Emile Smith Rowe’s departure at Arsenal has left the iconic number 10 shirt up for grabs.
Smith Rowe completed a £35million move to Fulham last week after falling down the pecking order under Mikel Arteta.
The 24-year-old hit the ground running with Fulham, scoring on his debut in a 2-1 defeat to Sevilla in pre-season.
Smith Rowe is set to wear the number 32 at Craven Cottage next season, but his Arsenal exit means the Gunners can hand the iconic number 10 elsewhere.
Mesut Ozil wore the number 10 shirt before Smith Rowe, as did Jack Wilshere and Robin van Persie – before them, the legendary Dennis Bergkamp wore it.
Whoever wears it next has big boots to fill.
Arsenal fans spot academy star with No.10
With Smith Rowe now out of the picture, many expected Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz to be the frontrunners for the prestigious shirt number.
Odegaard currently wears eight while Havertz wears 29 – the same as his previous Bayer Leverkusen number.
But one Arsenal fan on X spotted that academy star Ethan Nwaneri was wearing the number 10 on his shorts in recent training photos.
It suggests that 17-year-old, who was hailed as “unique” by Mikel Arteta, could be in line to inherit the shirt.
Arsenal boldly gave Smith Rowe the number 10 and Bukayo Saka the number seven after they broke through from the Hale End academy, and Nwaneri may now follow in their footsteps.
However, the shirt number has not been made official by the club and could be subject to change – especially if a new signing walks through the doors at The Emirates.
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