Aston Villa announce new squad numbers for 2017/2018 season

Aston Villa announced several changes to the squad numbers for the upcoming 2017/2018 Championship season.

Jack Grealish takes over the number ten shirt after years of playing with #40. To compensate for John Terry’s usual #26, Jonathan Kodjia switched over to #22.

In case you missed it, Kodjia will miss the first month of the season as he continues recovery over an ankle break.

Other squad number changes include: James Chester switching over to number five, Chris Samba takes usual center back’s number four, and Ritchie De Laet the right back’s number two. Sam Johnstone claims the number one shirt.

Villa provided the link in the tweet below:

The complete list:

1. Sam Johnstone

2. Ritchie De Laet

3. Neil Taylor

4. Chris Samba

5. James Chester

6. Glenn Whelan

7. Leandro Bacuna

8. Henri Lansbury

9. Scott Hogan

10. Jack Grealish

11. Gabby Agbonlahor

13. Jed Steer

14. Conor Hourihane

15. Mile Jedinak

16. James Bree

17. Micah Richards

19. Andre Green

20. Birkir Bjarnason

21. Alan Hutton

22. Jonathan Kodjia

23. Jordan Amavi

24. Tommy Elphick

25. Gary Gardner

26. John Terry

27. Ahmed Elmohamady

31. Mark Bunn

37. Albert Adomah

44. Ross McCormack

Gary Gardner, Tommy Elphick, and Ross McCormack are expected to find new homes before the end of the transfer window. Aly Cissokho is excluded from the list as the left back completed his move to Turkish side Yeti Malatyaspor for £1.3 million. A healthy fee for the third-choice fullback.

What does this all mean for Aston Villa? Nothing, really. Squad numbers are a fun part of football, but they don’t really represent anything of importance. They are an important factor in commercial success; and thankfully, Villa have all the “correct” numbers playing in the “correct” positions.

Next: Aston Villa reject Leandro Bacuna bid from Reading

Aston Villa begin their promotion campaign on Saturday, August 5, at 12:30PM U.K. time. Stay tuned!