Arsenal reveal squad number changes after new home kit unveiled | OneFootball

Key shirt left vacant this season after summer sale has been re-assigned for the 2025/26 campaign

Making changes: Ethan Nwaneri and David Raya will both have new squad numbers at Arsenal next season

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Arsenal duo David Raya and Ethan Nwaneri have both selected new squad numbers for next season.

That number has been vacant since previous incumbent - and Raya’s rival for the starting job - Aaron Ramsdale joined Southampton in a £25million transfer last August.

Before that, the No1 had been worn by Bernd Leno, Petr Cech, Wojciech Szczesny, Manuel Almunia and Jens Lehmann since club legend David Seaman made it his for over a decade.

Instead Nwaneri will now take the No22, jumping up from the No53 he has had since breaking through into the first-team picture at the Emirates Stadium under Mikel Arteta.

Pablo Mari, Denis Suarez, Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Yaya Sanogo, Francis Coquelin and Gael Clichy are among the players to have also worn No22 for Arsenal in recent years, as well as Raya.

Arsenal have confirmed that these squad number changes will come into effect from the start of the 2025/26 season, with Raya and Nwaneri both staying with their current numbers for the final two matches of the Premier League campaign against Newcastle and Southampton.

However, Arsenal will be donning fresh kits against Newcastle in north London this weekend, having officially unveiled their new home strips on Thursday.

The new Adidas shirt features the gothic 'A' from their classic 'Victoria Concordia Crescit' crest first used in 1949 woven into the fabric and is designed to explore the “heart of Arsenal”, using the “human heart as a creative device to take supporters on a journey to the source of life behind the badge”.

“I love our new kit, it looks fresh - I'm excited to wear this in front of our incredible supporters," said Arsenal full-back Myles Lewis-Skelly. “Their energy lifts us and when we step out in the shirt, we feel it more than ever.”