The days of a player getting a number from 1-11 based on their position are so far in the past now, so a player picking their squad number can actually be pretty big business these days.
Brands can be based around it and the number will eventually become synonymous with the player, but it didn’t look like Raphael Varane would get to keep his usual number 5 due to Harry Maguire, while the number 4 shirt belongs to Phil Jones and it doesn’t look like he’s giving that up either.
It may take a player leaving to free up a number, and there’s plenty of talk just now about Amad Diallo going out on loan, and that would then leave the former Real Madrid defender free to take his number 19 shirt:
Raphael Varane | Sport Witness has been informed the delay has been due to image rights issues, expected to be sorted out soon. Trained today.
No.19 shirt likelier than something outlandish, with Amad Diallo going out on loan.https://t.co/bvX0UgFs8A #mufc
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) August 12, 2021
The move has seemingly been completed for a while now but it’s still not officially over the line, although it’s only minor issues that need to be sorted so he should be officially presented very soon.
