Cristiano Ronaldo is coming back home to Manchester United.
Since yesterday’s news broke, there has been plenty of talk about which shirt number he will wear at Old Trafford.
He is synonymous with the number seven shirt but that is occupied by Edinson Cavani.
Which shirt number will Ronaldo wear for United?
Ronaldo has worn three different numbers in his career; 7, 9 and 28.
Cavani has 7 and Anthony Martial is the current occupant of the number 9 jersey.
Youngster Facundo Pellistri was assigned United’s number 28 shirt but he has since moved on loan to Alaves.
That should have vacated the shirt for Ronaldo, if he wants to take up the very first number he wore in his professional career, in his sole season at Sporting.
That would echo what Lionel Messi has done at Paris Saint-Germain.
Neymar wears their number ten shirt so Messi has settled for 30, which is what he wore when he first broke into the Barcelona first team.
How Ronaldo could wear 7 at United
United can submit a different set of squad numbers for the Champions League, and they have not been handed in yet.
So while Cavani would need to leave in order for United to hand Ronaldo the number 7 shirt for Premier League action, that’s not the case for European football.
For example, Ronaldo could wear 28 for league games and 7 for Champions League games.
How that would go down with Cavani is another issue, but it might be something of a compromise.
United’s first Champions League tie is against Young Boys on Tuesday 14th September, and Ronaldo could be wearing the number 7 shirt in that match if the club go down that route.
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