Oscar's Squad Number Confirmed

Chelsea have sprung a slow one on us all by revealing that Oscar would wear number eleven a week or so after we all found out that Oscar would, in fact, be wearing number eleven. Here's the link, if you still don't believe me. Anyway, we're not going to see Oscar for a little while yet, because Brazil are still in the Olympics -- even if they lose their semifinal to South Korea today, which seems unlikely, they'll have a bronze medal to contest on Friday. So don't expect him for the Community Shield or anything.

The fact that Didier Drogba's old number is going to a 20-year-old kid is a little annoying, but that's only because I was hoping that we'd keep up our alliterative streak (Damien Duff, Didier Drogba... can he be Oscar Oscar? Please?). Fans build up a lot of mythology around numbers, and although clubs sometimes buy into that*, I don't really accept the idea that anyone occupying eleven is going to have to live up to Drogba's mantle. But that said, this will annoy some people who think that this is respectful to the former occupant. Oh well.

*See squad number 25.