:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49705145/GettyImages-531581852.0.jpg)
With Mikel Arteta's departure, there was some question over what (if anything) would happen to the number 8 shirt. Granit Xhaka would have been a fine choice to pick up Arteta's mantle, but he is particularly enamored with the number 34, everyone's kind of just assumed he'd take that. There was a rumor a little while ago that Francis Coquelin would take it over, but honestly it would have been annoying to have a squad player (however well-liked that squad player may be) wearing a single digit.
Well, for fellow shirt number obsessives, here's some good news.
We’ve got a new No 8… pic.twitter.com/OlWees7T5P
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) May 26, 2016
That's right – Aaron Ramsey is ditching the 16 he's worn for years, in favor of the number 8 shirt. While literally nothing in the world matters less than which number a player wears, it's always been a thing I've liked following, and Ramsey in the 8 makes perfect sense. Hopefully he honors it just as those who came before have done (well, most of them at least).