Denis Suarez joins Arsenal: New loan signing to wear No 22 shirt number after transfer deadline day move
Suarez arrives on a short-term deal from Barcelona and will follow in the footsteps of Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Francis Coquelin and Gael Clichy in the No 22 shirt
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Arsenal have revealed the shirt number that Denis Suarez will wear after he completed his loan move from Barcelona on transfer deadline day.
The 25-year-old Galicia native, who has made one lone appearance for the senior Spain national team, had found himself frozen out at Barcelona after falling down the pecking order under Ernesto Valverde.
With a year-and-a-half remaining on his contract, Barcelona were open to letting Suarez leave the club this month, although after expressing their interest in the midfielder Arsenal made it clear that they were only in a position to loan the former Villarreal star. The two clubs haggled over the move to the point that it was thought to be off, only for talks to resume this week.
Arsenal eventually got their wish as Barcelona altered a £20m option to buy Suarez permanently from an obligation to an option, giving Arsenal the choice over whether they want him in their squad come the end of the season, while he also agreed a one-year contract extension to ensure he does not enter the final year of his deal next season.
With the move finally announced on Thursday afternoon, Arsenal revealed that Suarez will wear the No 22 shirt this season, becoming the eighth player to do so in the club’s history.
The most recent player to wear it was Jeff Reine-Adelaide, who left the club last year to join French side Angers, and he follows in the footsteps of Yaya Sanogo and Francis Coquelin as others who have worn the No 22.
But the most successful player to have graced the jersey is former left-back Gael Clichy, who spent eight seasons wearing the No 22 before he left in 2011 for Manchester City. The 33-year-old won the Premier League with the Gunners as well as the FA Cup, and he currently plays for Turkish side İstanbul Basaksehir.
The others to wear the shirt include another Premier League winner in Oleh Luzhny, French defender David Grondin and English midfielder Ian Selley, who was the first to wear the shirt in the 1993/94 season and helped the club to the FA Cup and League Cup double in 1993 as well as the Uefa Cup Winners Cup the following year.
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