Ross Embleton has praised Jobi McAnuff’s fitness and revealed that the Leyton Orient captain could feature in a more central position over the course of the campaign.

McAnuff was named as Orient’s club captain almost two weeks ago having proved himself to be a pivotal figure for the O’s last season, scoring six goals in 37 appearances in all competitions, racking up a further eight assists.

The experienced winger returned to the club last summer from Stevenage, having previously spent two years at Brisbane Road between 2014 and 2016, and signed a new one-year deal in East London in February.

His impressive form last season helped Orient secure a 13th place finish in the National League and Embleton said it was a straight forward decision to hand the former Jamaican international the captain’s armband for the new campaign.

On McAnuff, Embleton said: “He’s different class. I worked with Jobi closely when I was doing the team before Justin came in and I think he’s as fit as anybody.

“I keep reading these things since the World Cup about Ronaldo and that he’s got the body of a 21-year-old or whatever statistic it was. But Jobi is in unbelievable condition for a person of his age. His football performances have been outstanding last season and over pre-season as well so I think it’s fully deserved.

“We’ve got some big characters in the group. You’ve got the likes of George Elokobi, Josh Coulson, Charlie Lee and then one or two others that go under the radar. If you come along to our games, you listen to someone like Dean Brill, we’ve got some good people and leaders around the group like that. Collectively, what Jobi brings to the group and how important he is, I think it’s a fairly obvious choice.”

McAnuff was heavily involved for the O’s once again last weekend against Salford and it was his corner which found Craig Clay at the far post in the build up to Orient’s equaliser.

The 36-year-old was moved into a more central position on the hour mark by Justin Edinburgh to accommodate James Brophy on the left as the O’s chased an equaliser during Saturday’s game, something which the Orient head coach has also experimented with at times during the club’s pre-season friendlies.

Assistant coach Embleton also said that McAnuff was moved into central midfield at times last season as well and his versatility could be used more often by Edinburgh over the course of the campaign.

Embleton said: “Jobi played there last season quite a bit within games. He started out wide on the right or left and as the games wore on, if we needed to make changes or a couple of times Ebou Adams was carrying bookings, we moved Jobi inside because we know that he’s got the quality and can adjust.

“Some of it has been just as simple as playing Jobi in midfield to make sure that people get the right type of minutes over pre-season to make sure they are ready physically for the season to start. Other times, it’s been to see whether or not it would suit Jobi playing in a certain partnership or a certain pairing in the middle of the pitch.

“So there’s a little bit behind those decisions. Some of it purely physical, but other parts have been to see whether it might be a position that Jobi can play in if we need him to.”