Henrikh Mkhitaryan should feel very honoured that Arsenal were willing to swap Alexis Sanchez to sign him, that's how his agent will spin it anyway. And now the Armenian midfielder has been handed the honour of a prestigious squad number.
Manchester United might feel like they're the headlines side of the swap deal that saw Alexis Sanchez move to Old Trafford but there's little doubt that the Gunners are also getting a very good part of the deal.
Arsene Wenger's side waved goodbye to a player who no longer wanted to be there and would have left for a free in the summer and in exchange got a very talented and creative player who just wants to play.
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Mkhitaryan was brilliant at Borussia Dortmund and showed glimpses of it at Old Trafford, especially during their run to the Europa League last season, and could be the player Wenger needs.
The Armenian has been given a bit of an upgrade on his squad number too. Having been number 22 at United he will play his Arsenal career as number seven, the shirt formerly worn by Sanchez:
In the Premier League era there's been quite the mix of players to wear the number seven at both the Emirates and at Highbury.
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Kevin Campbell was the first player to wear the shirt from 1993-1995 before David Platt wore it for three seasons, right back Nelson Vivas was then guilty of a footballing crime by taking the number for two years, the shirt then moved back to an attacking player as Robert Pires rightfully had the shirt for six years.
Tomas Rosicky was the next player to wear the shirt for the entire decade that he played for Wenger's side but he only managed 247 appearances in that time before of injury.
Finally the shirt went to Sanchez for the 2016/17 season after the Chilean had worn 17 when he first arrived at the club. Now Mkhitaryan has the shirt and Sanchez owns the number seven shirt at Old Trafford.
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