Manchester United have confirmed that Anthony Martial will wear the number nine shirt next season, replacing Romelu Lukaku who moved to Inter on deadline day.
The Frenchman initially wore the No.9 shirt at Old Trafford, following his move from Monaco, but switched to no.11 when Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived at the club from Paris Saint-Germain in 2016.
Manchester United Announces Shirts Number Of All Players In 2019-2020
On their official website, Man Utd also gave some trivia information about the club's and player's shirt numbers.
Two players have reverted back to previous shirt numbers - Paul Scholes and Antonio Valencia. Legendary midfielder Scholes wore no.22 during the 1995/96 season, after starting as no.24 in the first year they were introduced in the Premier League in 1993/94. In January 2012, he took on no.22, which was formerly held by John O’Shea, after making a shock U-turn on his retirement. Ashley Young was in possession of the no.18 jersey he had worn with such distinction during the peak of his playing days under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Valencia, who joined L.D.U Quito in the summer, was awarded the no.7 shirt in 2012/13 but vacated it after a single season to revert back to no.25 in the following summer. Nick Powell had kept it warm for him throughout that campaign.
There have been plenty of instances where players have changed numbers, of course, but, excluding scenarios where players have simply returned from loan to rejoin the squad, these are the only three instances of Reds rediscovering a former slot in the squad.
Seven other players have worn the no.9 shirt since 1993/94 – Brian McClair, Andy Cole, Louis Saha, Dimitar Berbatov, Radamel Falcao, Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku.
New signing Harry Maguire will wear the number five, whilst fellow new arrivals Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James have been handed 29 and 21 respectively.
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