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Football London
Football London
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Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Cody Gakpo to Arsenal transfer theory emerges after surprise Gabriel Martinelli announcement

Gabriel Martinelli's new shirt number announcement has sparked an interesting theory from an Arsenal supporter ahead of the summer transfer window.

On Thursday morning, the Gunners officially launched their brand new adidas home kit for the 2022/23 season and not too long after the release it was revealed that the Brazil international has upgraded to no.11, having worn no.35 ever since arriving in north London from Brazilian side Ituano in July 2019.

This is somewhat of a surprising turn of events, especially as Martinelli has previously hinted at wanting to emulate the likes of Thierry Henry and Theo Walcott by wearing no.14 at Arsenal - a squad number that has been vacant since January following the departure of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

READ MORE: Man City 'accidentally drop' Gabriel Jesus transfer hint as Arsenal confirm Brazil star decision

But, as it's panned out, Martinelli will become the latest player to wear the No. 11 shirt for the club as he will follow in the footsteps of Martin Odegaard Lucas Torreira, Sylvain Wiltord, Mesut Ozil, Robin van Persie, Marc Overmars, Carlos Vela and Andre Santos, just to name a few.

With that said, one Arsenal fan thinks this decision could have consequences over a potential new signing this summer. As previously reported by football.london, the club have made contact with the agent of PSV Eindhoven winger Cody Gakpo with Mikel Arteta looking to bolster his attacking options.

Considering that the Netherlands international wears no.11 on the back of his PSV shirt, naturally one can assume that's his favoured option and he would have perhaps requested no.11 on the back of his Arsenal shirt if he was to complete a big-money transfer this summer.

However, in the view of @TrickyTrincao on Twitter, Martinelli taking the aforementioned squad number means 'No Gakpo (to Arsenal) then'. Of course, that's not necessarily the case as there are still plenty of shirt numbers that would be available to the 23-year-old if he was to prove the supporter wrong.

One option could be no.19 which he wore for two seasons at PSV before switching to no.11 at the beginning of the current campaign in which he's scored 21 goals and provided 15 assists in 47 appearances across all competitions.

Therefore, Gakpo could receive his seemingly second favoured squad number if he was to join the Gunners, but only once Nicolas Pepe's exit from the Emirates Stadium is confirmed, with football.london reporting that the Ivory Coast international wants to leave this summer and has instructed his agent to find him a new club.

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