Grant Hanley was the obvious candidate to captain Norwich City for head coach Daniel Farke.

The strapping centre-back soon became a fan favourite for the Canaries last season after joining from Newcastle in a deal reportedly worth £3.5million.

Now the Scotland international – who finished second in the player-of-the-season voting – has been handed the captain's armband ahead of the new Championship campaign.

'It was an easy decision because Grant is a natural leader and is always there with brilliant performances,' Farke explained.

'It is even more important to have a core group of leaders in our dressing room and that's what we have. I got the feeling Grant totally deserves this because he buys totally into our philosophy and is really proud to wear the yellow shirt. We rely on him in this leadership role, I will rely on him and support him, so for me it was a pretty easy decision because Grant deserves it.

'There were also some really good candidates who also deserved to be there but in general I spoke with all of them and they know that I want them to lead the group because you can have the best captain in the world but you always need a core group of leaders in the squad and that's what we have, or at least that's my feeling.'

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Portuguese right-back Ivo Pinto took over the captaincy when long-serving defender Russell Martin fell out of favour after the opening month of last season.

However, Pinto has missed all of pre-season with a hamstring issue and is only due to return to training this week ahead of Saturday's opening game of the season at Birmingham City.