Arsenal reveal squad numbers for £52million duo Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez – who aims to avoid Gunners curse
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ARSENAL have revealed the squad numbers they have handed to £52million worth of new signings.
The Gunners landed Lucas Perez in a shock £17m deal from Deportivo La Coruna while Germany international defender Shkodran Mustafi rolled into The Emirates for £35m.
And the Gunners have handed Lucas the No 9 shirt for next season, while Mustafi will don 20.
Fans will hope that the curse of their 9 jersey does not strike the 27-year-old Spaniard in the way that it appeared to with previous strikers...
Arsenal squad numbers 2016-17
2. Mathieu Debuchy
3. Kieran Gibbs
4. Per Mertesacker
5. Gabriel
6. Laurent Koscielny
7. Alexis Sanchez
8. Aaron Ramsey
9. Lucas Perez
11. Mesut Ozil
12. Olivier Giroud
13. David Ospina
14. Theo Walcott
15. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
16. Rob Holding
17. Alex Iwobi
18. Nacho Monreal
19. Santi Cazorla
20. Shkodran Mustafi
22. Yaya Sanogo
23. Danny Welbeck
24. Hector Bellerin
25. Carl Jenkinson
26. Emiliano Martinez
29. Granit Xhaka
31. Jeff Reine-Adelaide
32. Chuba Akpom
33. Petr Cech
34. Francis Coquelin
35. Mohamed Elneny
Lukas Podolski was by no means a disaster in his three years with the club, having had to settle for more time on the bench than he would have liked - but netting 31 goals in 82 games.
Previous to that was South Korean flop Park Chu-young.
Park spent three years on the club's books but netted just once in the League Cup in nine Gunners outings.
Eduardo was well-liked by Gooners but suffered a horrific broken leg in a challenge with Birmingham's Martin Taylor and scored 21 times in 67 games.
The shirt was Julio Baptista's prior to that, with the Brazilian taking it off Jose Antonio Reyes in the pair's swap deal with Real Madrid.
Baptista's deal was a season-long loan and the Gunners left it at that following just 10 goals in 35 appearances, while £17m flop Reyes struck 23 times in 110 games.
Francis 'Fox in the box' Jeffers was the proud owner between 2001 and 2004.
But he is best remembered for his unremarkable displays that net just eight times in three seasons - costing the Gunners £1m a goal!
Players to wear No 9 for the Gunners
John Radford
Malcolm McDonald
Ray Kennedy
Frank Stapleton
Alan Smith
John Hartson
Nicholas Anelka
Davor Suker
Francis Jeffers
Jose Antonio Reyes
Julio Baptista
Eduardo da Silva
Park Chu-young
Lukas Podolski
Davor Suker was the first man to wear the shirt for the Gunners in the 'noughties' but, again, 11 goals in 39 games was hardly stellar stuff.
Lucas is one No 9 that Gunners fans will hope CAN fire.
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