The last time Manchester United had a talented young midfielder wearing this shirt number, well, things didn’t really work out how the Red Devils would have planned.
Yes, Paul Pogba would return for a second spell at Old Trafford, joining Manchester United for a then-world record fee of £89 million from Juventus back in 2016.
But, for some sections of the United fanbase, any warmth they may had felt towards the towering Frenchman would forever be undercut by the manner of his departure four years earlier.
Pogba, swaggering onto the first-team stage with the number 42 on his back, enraged Sir Alex Ferguson and co when he – along with infamous agent Mino Raiola – refused to sign a new contract in favour of a switch to Italy.
So Man United will be hoping that, as far as Sekou Kone is concerned, the similarities begin and end with the number on his shirt.
Sekou Kone shirt number revealed ahead of Manchester United’s Fenerbhce clash
Ahead of what could be a senior United debut in Thursday’s Europa League clash with Fenerbahce, Kone was pictured being put through his paces with Erik ten Hag’s first-team.
The number 42 was visible on his training top.
As such, should Kone feature in Istanbul, Kone will make his first competitive Red Devils appearance in the same shirt Pogba wore during that 3-0 win at Leeds United in the EFL Cup all the way back in 2011.
Of course, there is another, more famous example of a generation-defining central midfielder wearing the number 42 shirt.
While Pogba would make only seven appearances in that top before swapping Manchester for Turin, Yaya Toure spent eight years on the blue side of the City, popularising a number more usually associated with youngsters and academy kids rather than bonafide superstars.
For Man City icon Toure, the number 42 shirt became as iconic as the number five did for Zinedine Zidane, for instance.
And Sekou Kone’s ‘next Yaya Toure’ moniker may take on extra significance now, the comparisons between Man United’s teenage starlet and the three-time Premier League champion now going beyond their balletic elegance and their bludgeoning, ball-carrying prowess.
Sekou Kone has been likened to Man City hero Yaya Toure
Of course, Kone is not the first young African midfielder to be labelled the second coming of Toure.
That ‘new Yaya’ billing is as common, in Africa, as comparisons with Lionel Messi are in South America. Or Thierry Henry in France, for instance.
Hailing from Malia rather than Toure’s Ivory Coast homeland, Sekou Kone is not quite as tall as the Man City hero but he seems to grow in stature with the ball at his feet.
Kone, who loves to drive forward from deep, has also been likened to former Chelsea colossus Michael Essien with respected talent scout Jacek Kulig highlighting his pace, technique and athleticism amongst a host of other attributes.
“Typically deployed as a defensive midfielder, he has showcased his versatility, demonstrating an ability to push forward when necessary,” FootBoom wrote after Man United secured Kone’s services over the summer.
“His robust style includes excellent ball-winning skills and impressive stamina, allowing him to track back effectively and disrupt opposition plays.”
According to reports, Kone has been fast-tracked after impressing the Man United coaching staff behind the scenes at Carrington.
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