Back in January, Mesut Ozil apparently made it clear that he wanted Jack Wilshere’s coveted number 10 shirt: should Arsene Wenger give it to him?

The number 10 shirt is arguably one of the most important shirts in a football squad.

Often given to accomplished playmakers, such as Dennis Bergkamp, Wenger appears to have used it as a bargaining tool in recent years, handing it to Robin van Persie as rumours circulated over his future.

In 2012/13, Jack Wilshere was given the prestigious shirt as a statement of intent that even though he was struggling with injuries, Wenger saw him as the future of Arsenal Football Club.

However, Wilshere has just one year left on his current Arsenal deal, and after a semi-successful loan spell at Bournemouth, rounded off by another season-ending injury, even Wenger surely knows it must be time to give the shirt to someone else.

Ozil was given the number 10 shirt at Real Madrid in 2011/12 and since signing for Arsenal in 2013, he’s apparently been desperate to be given it again.

With just one year left on his contract in north London, Wenger giving him the number 10 shirt is the least the Frenchman can do.

Ozil is a number 10 in the purest form.

It’ll not only encourage the German to stay, it’ll give him a sense of purpose and prove how integral he is to the squad.

When Wenger signed Ozil from Real in 2013 for a record £42.5m, he planned to build a squad around him.

Well, there’s no time like the present.