Arsenal are edging closer to completing the long-awaited transfer of Declan Rice to the Emirates Stadium.
Meanwhile, the Gunners will have to break one of their own rules in order to hand the midfielder his favourite no.41 shirt.
Arsenal have a police of not giving first-team players numbers above 36 — for example, Alex Iwobi even had to give up the no.45 jersey.
It remains to be seen whether Mikel Arteta will be willing to bend the rules for the 24-year-old who's about to become the most expensive signing in club history.
Last year, Rice told Gary Neville: "41 was just the number I was given in the academy by the kitman. When you are in the Under-23s there are the first team squad numbers.
"And then it gets to the higher numbers and I was given 41 when I went to Seattle on my first trip with the [West Ham] first team. I was just given 41 and it has stayed with me since."
