Arsenal have a new No. 7, kind of.
With Alexis Sanchez’s move to Manchester United confirmed on Monday, Arsenal’s No. 7 shirt was left vacant and Henrikh Mkhitaryan was predictably awarded the jersey which has been worn by Robert Pires and Tomas Rosicky in years gone by.
While Mkhitaryan, who moved to the Emirates as part of United’s deal with Sanchez, will wear the No. 7 jersey in domestic competitions, he will be unable to do so in the Europa League due to the fact that the Chile international wore the No. 7 shirt for the Gunners in their group stage win against Cologne back in September.
We've confirmed @HenrikhMkh's @premierleague number – but he won't wear 7️⃣ in the Europa League… and this is why 👇https://t.co/yj7kUZ4mL0
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 23, 2018
So we can expect to see Mkhitaryan sport the No. 7 in the Premier League and Carabao Cup but he will have to wear a different number for the knockout stages of the Europa League, the competition in which Arsenal have been drawn against Swedish side Ostersunds in the last 32, due to Uefa rules.
Arsenal could not confirm Mkhitaryan’s European shirt number as of Tuesday afternoon.
This will brighten up your night Arsenal fans.
TURN THE VOLUME UP:
"Yo Pierre, you wanna come here?" (Source: @Blacazette) pic.twitter.com/G7bg5LtSNz
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) January 22, 2018
The Armenia international took part in his first training session under Arsene Wenger on Tuesday, having revealed that it had always been a dream of his to play for the North London side.
“I’m very happy that we could finish this deal and I’m very happy to be here,” Mkhitaryan said. “It’s a dream come true because I’ve always dreamed of playing for Arsenal.
“Now that I’m here, I’ll do my best for this club to create history.”
