Christian Norgaard to Arsenal: Shirt numbers available to Brentford captain ahead of £10m transfer

No sooner had contract talks with Thomas Partey seemingly collapsed than Arsenal struck a cut-price deal to avoid going into 2025-26 with a weaker midfield than last term.

Indeed, the Gunners are understood to have agreed an initial £10m fee with Brentford for Danish midfielder Christian Norgaard, who will cover for and compete with Martin Zubimendi for starts in the number six position.

The expectation is that Zubimendi will fill Partey's shoes while Norgaard plays the Jorginho role next season, and the arrival of the Brentford skipper has immediately been met with mixed reviews from the Arsenal faithful.

Whether they like it or not, Gooners will almost certainly be seeing the 31-year-old in a different shade of red and white next term, and here Sports Mole looks at which shirt numbers could be available to him in North London.

Even before pulling on the Brentford kit for the first time, Norgaard had acted as Fiorentina's number six in both position and shirt number, and he has kept hold of the same jersey throughout his entire English football career.

Gabriel Magalhaes has had a tight grip on the '6' at Arsenal since 2020, but Partey leaving would free up the more traditional centre-back's '5' for the Brazilian to inherit, thus leaving the '6' awaiting its next taker.

However, it would not be a surprise to see Zubimendi given first refusal on the '6', so Norgaard may have to cede his favoured jersey and work his way down the Arsenal shirt list.

At international level, the midfielder has sported the number 15 for Denmark for the past several years, a shirt that is in possession of Jakub Kiwior at Arsenal; the Pole's future is far from certain, though.

Norgaard to follow in Fabregas, Parlour footsteps at Arsenal?

Kiwior may very well seek an exit in search of regular first-team football, meaning that Norgaard could end up donning the same number for both club and country, and one that both Ray Parlour and Cesc Fabregas wore at the Emirates.

Before making it big in the top five European leagues, Norgaard was Brondby IF's number 19 for six straight seasons, but Leandro Trossard is in possession of that jersey in North London and is not expected to jump ship this summer.

In terms of available and both realistic numbers - eliminating the '10' and Thierry Henry's '14' from contention - Norgaard could be offered the '16', which has been vacant since Rob Holding left and was previously in the hands of Aaron Ramsey for eight years.

Jorginho's exit also means that the number 20 shirt is without an owner, while the 25, 27 and 28 are also up for grabs; the latter had Kolo Toure's name on it during the Invincibles era.

Written by
Ben Knapton