Squad numbers updated: Wilshere gets the number 10

Arsenal have updated the squad number list as the new season is primed to begin, and as rumored yesterday, Jack Wilshere has been given the number 10 shirt that was vacated by the departure of Robin van Persie. A few other players have switched numbers around, and new players have all been officially registered, but this symbolic move is surely the one that will cause the most interest.

Other updates include the newly minted Arsenal players receiving numbers. Lukas Podolski obviously will not wear 10, as was speculated during the preseason, but will instead wear the #9 shirt that he wore against Koln last weekend. Santi Cazorla will wear Wilshere's vacated 19. And as we all already knew, Olivier Giroud will wear the number 12 shirt.

The former number 9, Park Ju-Young, will move to the 30 shirt that Yossi Benayoun graced last campaign, as he is evidently still an Arsenal player or something. And as was reported a while ago, Wojciech Szczesny will wear the number 1 as the undisputed first-choice goalkeeper, and Francis Coquelin will take the number 22, rather than last year's 39, for some reason.

As you might expect for a player who's grown up at Arsenal, Jack Wilshere is ebullient.

It's such an honour for me. Getting the No 10 shirt again at the Club means so much to me as I wore it all through the youth teams at Arsenal. It has a special place for all attacking or creative players. I feel proud to wear it now after some real Club legends have worn it, such as Dennis Bergkamp.

This is amusing, because at this point Bergkamp is the last Arsenal number 10 that everyone doesn't hate (unless I'm forgetting someone, I suppose). Wilshere's still in light training so it's a while before we can think of having him back, but it's nice to have a player in the iconic shirt that we won't have to worry about (for a while, at least).