No pressure, but Manchester United’s two big summer signings have just inherited a pair of shirt numbers with quite the history behind them.
Leny Yoro, the £52 million acquisition from LOSC Lille and the biggest marquee addition of the Ineos era on or off the pitch so far, becomes the first Red Devils defender to don the number 15 shirt since a certain skinheaded Serbian was thumping headers away from his goalline.
Whether Yoro can emulate the success of the iconic Nemanja Vidic, only time will tell.
But he certainly has the potential; wanted by numerous European A-listers and, in the words of his former coach, boasting the talent to exceed such modern-day luminaries as John Stones, via The Athletic.
Joshua Zirkzee, meanwhile, had his own shirt number confirmed on Tuesday afternoon, via the club’s official website.
And after Rasmus Hojlund joined United’s array of uber-talented number nines, the balletic Dutchman takes the number 11 vacated by his new Old Trafford teammate.
Manchester United confirm Joshua Zirkzee number
Interestingly, Zirkzee wore both the number nine and the number 11 over in Serie A with Bologna.
He started out with the former before switching to the latter. Upon arriving at Man United to the tune of £35 million, the most obvious options available to him were, again, nine or eleven.
But as Hojlund follows in the footsteps of Andy Cole, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Dimitar Berbatov and Anthony Martial, Zirkzee inherits the shirt most famously worn by Ryan Giggs during over two decades of stellar service.
Remarkably, only four players have represented Manchester United with 11 on their back since Giggs exploded onto the scene under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Zirkzee will hope to live up to the number’s history better than Adnan Januzaj did, while Hojlund’s shift to nine feels fitting given the Dane’s rather old-school, classic centre-forward attributes.
Stylistically speaking, Zirkzee is a far more difficult sort of player to nail down. Not quite a number nine and not quite a number ten either, the former Bayern Munich youngster possesses elements of both amid comparisons with the aforementioned Berbatov and Ibrahimovic.
There is a reason why former Bologna team-mate Sam Beukema labelled him the most complete centre-forward in Italian football.
“I miss him a lot,” fellow Dutchman Beukema sighs in conversation Tuttomercatoweb. “He is a friend of mine. I spoke to him during the holidays.
“I am happy for him that he is going to Manchester. He is an extraordinary striker. For me, the best (in Serie A) last year.
“I fought with him in every training session. Obviously, I faced strong strikers like (Dusan) Vlahovic, (Olivier) Giroud and (Victor) Osimhen, but he has everything. The conditions are there for him to do well in a big team and I am sure he will succeed.”
Zirkzee follows in Ryan Giggs’ footsteps
Zirkzee arrived at Carrington last week. He missed out on the pre-season tour of the USA after returning late from the European Championships.
Erik ten Hag has indicated that a full debut could be on the cards against Manchester City in Saturday’s Community Shield. Jadon Sancho and Bruno Fernandes are also options to start in a ‘false nine’ role while Hojlund is injured for the next few weeks.
“I occasionally drop down to midfield. I don’t do that for myself but to help the team,” Zirkzee explains to The Mirror.
“I am what I call a false striker. Not a number nine, not a number ten. I am a 9.5! That’s my game. Maybe I’m a little different than others. But being different is good, right?
I want to play a pure game. Nutmegs, chops and back heels are moments that belong in football. That style has value for me. It’s the soccer kid in me because it’s supposed to be fun too, isn’t it?
“You have to pick the right moments. It’s intuition. I think I have excellent skills. I spent a lot of time on that as a kid. But if I lose the ball, I want to regain it immediately with the team. But the fancy footwork is part of my game at the end of the day.
Harry Amass and Ethan Wheatley are among those to also take new squad numbers this term.
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