Arsenal Reveal New Shirt Number for Mesut Ozil After Favoured Jersey Becomes Available

Arsenal have officially confirmed that Mesut Ozil has taken over the club's number 10, which was formally vacated when Jack Wilshere left the Gunners as a free agent at the end of June.

Ozil had worn the number 11 shirt during his first five season with Arsenal, although it has been rumoured for a long time that he was keen on switching to the 10 jersey if it became available.

The 29-year-old wore number 10 at a major tournament for Germany for the first time at this summer's World Cup and also previously occupied the shirt at Real Madrid.

The Gunners have confirmed that any supporters who have already purchased a 2018/19 shirt with Ozil old number printed on will be given replacement kit.

There have been several squad number changes at Arsenal since the end of last season. Petr Cech switched from 33 to one, while Mohamed Elneny now has number four after previously wearing 35. Hector Bellerin has also gone from 24 to two, and Granit Xhaka has moved to 34 from 29.

New defenders Stephan Lichtsteiner and Sokratis Papastathopoulos have been handed number 12 and number five shirt respectively since joining the club this summer.

New goalkeeper Bernd Leno is still yet to be assigned a number, leading some conspiracy theorists among the Arsenal support to suggest that Cech, who has been linked with a move away, may be leaving and soon vacating his newly acquired number one jersey.