Why Arsenal’s Mkhitaryan will wear two jersey numbers

Henrikh Mkhitaryan [Photo: Courtesy]

Arsenal have done erased their business with Manchester United after completion of Alexis Sanchez transfer to their rivals which involved a swap deal bringing Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan to the Emirates.

Mkhitaryan is officially an Arsenal player but there is more to his arrival owing to the need to comply with the regulations of the game. The former Borussia Dortmund man is set to be assigned two jersey numbers at least for the next matches as his club waits for the final decision on his final number.

According to the information contained in Arsenal blog, the player did not only swap the club with the Chilean but also the jersey number. Mkhi as he is famously known will wear Sanchez’s now vacant number 7. The same number has been worn by other players such as Robert Pires, Nelson Vivas, David Rochastle and recently Tomas Rosicky who hang his boots recently.

The Armenian will play for his new club in the Europa League matches, but this will come with another queer condition that he has to change to another number owing to the regulation put in place in the Europa league completion.

According to the Europa League match regulations, there is no single number that can be worn by more than one player.

Article 50.02 reads in part: “From the group stage, all registered players, including those registered at a later stage, must wear set numbers (on shirts and shorts) between 1 and 99. If the number 1 is used, it must be worn by a goalkeeper. No number may be used by more than one player on a team and no player may use more than one number in the course of a season.”

Sanchez having won the jersey number 7 when Arsenal beat Cologne 3-1 in the Europa League match can only imply that Mkhitaryan will have to settle for another number when plays in the same competition for Arsenal.

The former Shaktar Donetsk man has already started training with his new team but he will not be fielded against Chelsea in the League Cup match since he is cup-tied.