Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho has whipped up a frenzy on social media after posting an Instagram story featuring the number seven.
Having been the star of United’s FA Youth Cup winning side in 2021/22, Garnacho is now coming off a breakout campaign in the first-team that saw him make 35 appearances in all competitions and become an increasingly important attacking weapon as the season progressed.
A telltale sign that the teenager is on course for a new shirt number is that his 49 jersey is not available for fans to buy from the club store following last week’s home kit launch.
It has already been reported that United are considering handing the number seven shirt, vacant since Cristiano Ronaldo’s bad-tempered departure in November, to Garnacho.
Jadon Sancho was also a contender, having worn the number at Borussia Dortmund. But with his transfer delayed from 2020 to 2021 and the shirt already taken by Edinson Cavani when he finally did arrive, the England winger never got that chance. His inconsistent form would suggest that now is still not the right time for Sancho to inherit the shirt and all the extra weight it carries.
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If there is one thing Garnacho is not lacking, it is confidence, which may be exactly what United’s next number seven has to be.
His latest social media activity, albeit unrelated to the shirt directly, has still had fans wagging tongues about the possibility. Having reached seven million followers on Instagram, Garnacho posted a mocked-up image of himself wearing a shirt (not a United one) with seven on the back.
Incidentally, his handle on the platform is also ‘garnacho7’, highlighting his affinity with the number.
If Garnacho doesn’t end up wearing seven for United next season, other currently vacant options more befitting an important first-team player are 15 and 24.
The ‘curse’ of Man Utd’s number 7 shirt
The number seven shirt at Manchester United has so much prestige because of the club legends who have worn it over the decades.
George Best was the first Old Trafford icon to have made it famous, but he was then followed by subsequent legends Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo to really hammer that home over a period of nearly 50 years.
But nobody who has worn number seven since Ronaldo’s first United departure in 2009 has ever particularly thrived in the shirt, or even lasted more than two or three years. Ronaldo himself even struggled to recapture the magic upon his return in 2021, scoring 24 goals in all competitions in his first season back but then leaving under a cloud less than halfway through his second.
Each new wearer who isn’t an enormous success only adds to the pressure for the next in line.
Man Utd number 7s - Premier League era
*No fixed squad numbers
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This article was originally published on 90min as Alejandro Garnacho teases change to iconic Man Utd shirt number.
