The Lukas Podolski shirt number 'farce'

Arsenal started off their summer business with a clear goal in mind - improve the team with experienced and established stars.

Lukas Podolski, a 26-year-old German with more than 100 caps to his name summed that up, signed as soon as May.

So from a club who had set their stall out knowing what they wanted to achieve, how have they got to the point where their squad numbers for the forthcoming season were published - without their new signing listed?

In the grand scheme of things it may seem small, and it is, but it sums up the problem at the Emirates caused by Robin van Persie announcing his intentions not to renew his contract.

The presumption is that Arsenal are waiting for Van Persie to make his exit, before handing Podolski the number 10 shirt.

Why wait, say some - 'Tell Van Persie the number 10 shirt is now Podolski's' as a punishment for his disloyalty.

They have an argument, but such actions would be petty considering what Arsenal really want is to keep the Dutchman - If he turned around and said 'I'll sign' tomorrow, the club would whizz a pen and paper before him before he could say 'sorry.'

Taking his shirt number away would pretty much end chances of Van Persie deciding to stay, and ruin the already frayed relationship between club and player.

So Arsenal are stuck between a rock and a hard place, so it would seem, waiting for Van Persie's future to be established.

Except the problem is all of their own creating. They could have just given Podolski another number.

It's not like his heart was set on the number 10 shirt, when he arrived he expected the club captain to stay, so wearing it would not have occurred to him. 

If the Gunners want to give him a high profile number, hand him Park Chu-Young's number 9 shirt, which he has done little to merit, and the Korean may still be exiting the club himself to gain first team football.

If so you would have imagined Arsenal would be more decisive with his shirt number, but the indecision is hardly surprising given the Nasri/Fabregas fiasco last summer which undermined Arsenal's start to the season.

So while the rest of the players have their numbers, including Olivier Giroud (12), Podolski is left without one.

What happens if Van Persie is still at the club when the season kicks off, waiting for a transfer? Podolski will have to be given one by that point, and given that no team is close to matching Arsenal's valuation in the transfer market for their captain, it is a real possibility.

Indecision reigns, and it is a farce. It sums up just how chaotic Arsenal's summer has become - instead of aggressively snapping up talent, they are left again facing the exit of another star player - and crucially they are not taking steps to minimise the disruption.

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