Pep Guardiola will ask his Manchester City players to pick their own captain when Vincent Kompany is not fit to take the armband.

The new City boss, speaking in Shenzhen ahead of a pre-season friendly with Borussia Dortmund, explained he did not yet know the squad well enough to make that decision and would leave it with the dressing room.

Kompany is established as skipper but is likely to miss the start of the season with a thigh injury.

“Vincent is the captain, and when he’s not playing, the players have to choose,” said the former Barcelona boss.

“I don’t think it’s a big problem, we have people like Vincent, Joe [Hart], Yaya, Pablo [Zabaleta] as well.

“They have to decide who the real captain is for them. I have never believed I should pick the captain, because I am not in the locker room, not in the dressing room, I’m not in the meetings when they believe they have to change something.

“They have to choose for themselves the best guy to represent their opinions. I don’t like to do it, because I have only been here a month, so they must decide. It’s their responsibility.

“We’ve only been together a few weeks or a month and they know each other better than me. It’s their responsibility.”