Henrikh Mkhitaryan is poised to make his full Arsenal debut this weekend, days after coming on as a substitute in the midweek defeat at Swansea.
Having arrived from Manchester United as part of the deal which saw Alexis Sanchez move to Old Trafford, Mkhitaryan inherited the Chilean’s number seven shirt. However, the Armenian will not be wearing the same number shirt when Arsenal’s Europa League campaign recommences in a couple of weeks time.
A tweet from the confirmed on Friday that, due to Uefa rules, Mkhitaryan will instead be wearing the number 77 for their European fixtures this season.
He's our @premierleague No 7️⃣ but, due to @UEFA rules, @HenrikhMkh will wear 7️⃣7️⃣ in the Europa League pic.twitter.com/mRkLuEiI9W
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 2, 2018
Uefa rules state that two players cannot wear the same shirt number in European competition during the same campaign. Because Sanchez wore the number seven during the group stages, Mkhitaryan will wear the 77.
The rule will not matter for Sanchez, who inherited United’s previously unattached number seven after completing his switch to Old Trafford. The rules don’t make clear if this would have been the case if Sanchez inherited Mkhitaryan’s old squad number, considering United are playing in the Champions League, not the Europa League.
Arsenal face FK Ostersunds of Sweden in the last 32 stage of the Europa League. Mkhitaryan, a scorer for United in their final against Ajax last season, will be looking to win the competitions for the second consecutive season.
If Arsenal do win the tournament, they will secure qualification to next season’s Champions League, regardless of where they finish in the Premier League this season.
