The Curse Of The Number 7 Shirt At Manchester United Is Shockingly Bad

Manchester United have struggled to replace their last prolific number seven, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Since his departure to Real Madrid in 2009, a number of players have tried and failed to live up to the very high expectations of wearing the famous number seven jersey.

The likes of Michael Owen, Antonio Valencia, Angel Di Maria and Memphis Depay struggled for goals in the shirt, while United's current number seven, Alexis Sanchez, has only bagged twice since his arrival from Arsenal in the January window.

Owen could only find the net five times, while Di Maria and Memphis managed just a couple of goals between them.

Is the expectation of wearing such a historic number becoming a burden at Old Trafford?

The fact that those Manchester United players who wore the number 7 have scored only 13 goals in 138 league games is actually quite shocking considering its success down the year.

From the likes of David Beckham, George Best and Eric Cantona to Cristiano Ronaldo and Bryan Robson, this jersey has always held such high esteem but that has certainly changed in more recent times.

Just look at those stats.

Topics: Football News, Football, Manchester United, Sanchez, Premier League

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_