Arsenal starlet Ethan Nwaneri handed goalkeeper's shirt number with chequered Gunners history
Nwaneri's new number has had a chequered past of late
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ETHAN NWANERI has been given a new shirt number ahead of the 2025/26 season.
The 18-year-old was one of the shining lights in a disappointing season for Arsenal, who are on course for a third-straight second-placed finish in the Premier League.
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Ethan Nwaneri wore the number 53 shirt for Arsenal last season
Credit: ALAMY
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The 18-year-old has been handed a new shirt number for the 2025/26 campaign
Credit: GETTY
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Nwaneri will take the number 22 shirt left vacant by David Raya, who has officially taken the number 1 jersey
Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK
Nwaneri has worn the number 53 shirt this season, in which he's scored nine goals and provided two assists in 36 appearances in all competitions.
But he'll don a different number for the 25/26 campaign following one of his team-mates vacating their own number.
Nwaneri will be Arsenal's new number 22, taking the shirt from goalkeeper David Raya.
Raya has ditched his old number to officially become Arsenal's number one, which was left vacant following Aaron Ramsdale's move to Southampton last summer.
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The Emirates faithful will hope the number 22 shirt will bring Nwaneri the same good fortune it did former Invincible Gael Clichy.
But the shirt has had a chequered past in recent years, being worn by flops Yaya Sanogo, Denis Suarez and Pablo Mari.
Nwaneri's fellow teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly won't be following his suit and changing his number for the 2025/26 season.
The 18-year-old - who has been one of the club's star performers this season - will continue to wear the number 49 shirt.
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Nwaneri has played a whopping 1,303 minutes of football in his breakthrough season at the Emirates.
But manager Mikel Arteta is wary of giving the teenager too much game time too soon.
Ethan Nwaneri's rise at Arsenal under Mikel Arteta's guise
The Spaniard said of the Gunners' 2-2 draw with Liverpool last weekend: 'There are moments where players are used more and less.
'He's played a lot, probably more than anybody expected for sure.
"In the last few games, it's been because of the games and the context, we decided not to play him in those matches.
"It can change very quickly.'
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