Arsenal announce Henrikh Mkhitaryan will wear No.77 in the Europa League

The No 7 shirt is one of the most iconic in football, worn by some of the greatest players ever to grace the field.

No 77, meanwhile, is rather less well known - more commonly associated with youth team players given a run-out at the end of the season, or in other sports like American football or one-day international cricket.

However, that is the digit that new Arsenal signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan will wear in the Europa League, the club announced on Friday.

Mkhitaryan will wear the No 7 shirt in league matches, having inherited it from Alexis Sanchez, who moved to Manchester United in a swap deal with the Armenian.

However, Sanchez has already worn No 7 in European fixtures this season, and UEFA rules state only one player can wear a shirt number in their competitions in any one campaign.

So Mkhitaryan has decided to double down on the sevens, and will wear the unusual number when Arsenal line up against Ostersund in the round of 32 later this month.

Arsenal made the announcement on the same day as announcing their squad for the later stages of the competition - winter signings Mkhitaryan and Konstantinos Mavropanos were included.

Notably, Santi Cazorla was also brought in, despite recently admitting he was targeting a return to football in 2019 after months of injury hell.

Last year Cazorla underwent the 10th medical operation during his playing career so far, and has not played since October 2016 after an injury to the tendon in his right ankle.

Cazorla has lost eight centimetres from his tendon as a result, and has required skin grafts - yet Arsenal must feel he could be fit to play this season, by including him in their Europa League options.

He told RTVE: 'There have been moments when I've thought about throwing in the towel. I've thought things like "maybe it is not worth continuing". If things go well, maybe next year I can play at the top level again.'