Cristhian Mosquera can take dream Arsenal shirt number thanks to Myles Lewis-Skelly decision

No Dean Huijsen = no problem for Arsenal, Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta, who are on the cusp of capturing an alternative to the Real Madrid man for potentially close to a quarter of the price.

Granted, Valencia's Cristhian Mosquera may not be as revered as the former Bournemouth man - yet - but Arsenal paying just £13m up front for the 21-year-old is nothing short of a steal.

A verbal agreement has supposedly been reached between the two clubs over a deal for Mosquera, and thanks to Berta working his transfer magic, Arsenal will not even pay his full £17.3m release clause even if all add-ons are hit.

Ahead of Mosquera's imminent arrival at the Emirates Stadium, Sports Mole looks at which shirt numbers the versatile defender could take at Arsenal.

Over the past two seasons, Mosquera has proudly sported the number three on his back for Valencia, a shirt that is also vacant at Arsenal following the exit of fan favourite Kieran Tierney at the end of last season.

Following Myles Lewis-Skelly's breakthrough campaign last season, it would have been little surprise to see the 18-year-old rewarded with the number three shirt, which has also had Ashley Cole, Nigel Winterburn and Lee Dixon's surnames on the back.

However, Lewis-Skelly will reportedly be sticking with his current 49 shirt for the 2025-26 season due to its historic connections with the Arsenal Invincibles' unbeaten run, so the '3' is there for the taking for Mosquera.

While that jersey may traditionally be reserved for left-backs, Bacary Sagna claimed the '3' immediately upon his arrival in 2007 and did it justice for seven seasons as Arsene Wenger's number one right-back.

Mosquera to take pick between three and five shirts?

Alternatively, Arsenal are now without a number five following Thomas Partey's departure at the end of his contract, and that shirt is synonymous with legendary defensive figures such as Kolo Toure, Martin Keown and Tony Adams.

As William Saliba is proudly donning the '2' and Gabriel Magalhaes the '6', Mosquera could very well have his choice of either the '3' or '5' shirts - the best kind of dilemma for a new Arsenal signing.

However, should the 21-year-old decide that such iconic jerseys come with too much pressure so early on, he could take the number 18 shirt that has been vacated by Takehiro Tomiyasu's contract termination.

Numbers 20, 25, 26, 27 and 28 are also unoccupied at the Emirates, but Mosquera will surely not pass up the chance to stick with the number three shirt, which he also sports for Spain at Under-21 level.

Written by
Ben Knapton