Arsenal: 4 iconic shirt numbers available in the summer

Number 2

When the number two is mentioned, who springs to mind? If it isn’t the greatest right-back the club has ever had, Lee Dixon, then it best be Pat Rice, and if it’s neither of them there is a conversation that needs to be had.

There really aren’t a great deal of memorable ones since then, with the number currently occupied by one Hector Bellerin who is out on loan at Real Betis. It doesn’t look like he’ll be coming back, either.

So when he does depart it will free up the number, and considering how synonymous it is with the right-back position, surely it has to be handed to Takehiro Tomiyasu?

Currently donning the number 18 which Thomas Partey wore in his first season, freeing that number up for a central midfielder wouldn’t go amiss, unless there an Abou Diaby successor lurking around who wants to return the number two to its central midfield position.

But given how loved Tomiyasu is and how completely secure his position is at right-back, handing him the number worn by previous brilliant right-backs Dixon and Rice seems like a sound move.