Arsenal may have 'confirmed' William Saliba's squad number for the 2022/23 season.
The defender is back with the Gunners following an impressive campaign on loan at Marseille and after reporting for pre-season last month due to being given extra time off because of his exploits with France during the June international break, the 21-year-old has been wearing the number 12 shirt in the training sessions and in the friendlies.
However, it should be pointed out that was not necessarily confirmation of the finalised Arsenal squad numbers for the 2022/23 campaign, especially as for much of the summer, Saliba - alongside fellow returning loanee Lucas Torreira - appeared without one on the official club website.
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But it would appear that following media day at the club's London Colney training base on Monday, Saliba will be wearing number 12 when the Gunners' season gets underway on Friday night against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in a fixture that could see the centre-back make his competitive debut for the club.
If this scenario does play out it means the France international has been affected by Hector Bellerin not moving on yet after seemingly confirming that he would be wearing the no. 2 shirt in the new season. Of course, this particular squad number technically isn't available at the moment.
For Saliba to get his wish, he needs the Spaniard, whose exit has stalled amid talk of a return to Real Betis, to leave or take a leaf out of Mohamed Elneny's book and agree to a change in what would be a classy gesture on the Spaniard's behalf. But this process must happen before Friday.
This is because if the defender struts out at Selhurst Park wearing number 12, as per Premier League rules, he won't be able to change it until the following season: 'While he remains with the Club a Player will retain his shirt number throughout the Season for which it was allocated,' a statement reads.
Interestingly, there was an exception to the rule last season upon Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Manchester United as league officials sanctioned a special dispensation to allow Edinson Cavani to vacate the number 7 shirt so that the Portuguese superstar could continue wearing the iconic number.
Although whether Saliba would go down that route remains to be seen as time is running out for him to get his dream shirt number. With that said, there is hope for the Frenchman as history could repeat itself a decade removed from Robin van Persie swapping Arsenal for Manchester United.
In the summer of 2012, the Dutchman was being heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford and that prompted Jack Wilshere to request taking over the iconic no.10 shirt: "There were rumours. It was awkward actually because there were rumours about him leaving for United," he explained to talkSPORT.
"I didn’t know what was happening and I didn’t know what was going on. But I went to see the manager and said, ‘Look, I’m not sure what’s happening with Robin and I don’t really want to know, that’s not why I’m coming here, but if he does go could I have the No.10?' He just said, 'Yeah, of course'."
And with van Persie completing his £24m transfer to Man United on the eve of the 2012/13 Premier League season commencing, it meant that Wilshere was granted his request of the no.10 shirt and there's still enough time for this trick to be repeated with Saliba if Bellerin's exit is sped up.
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