What Shirt Number Could Frenkie de Jong Wear At Manchester United?

Frenkie de Jong joining Erik ten Hag and becoming the second Dutchman to join Manchester United this summer is looking increasingly likely, according to reports.

With the Dutch manager making Frenkie de Jong his number one priority in the transfer window, many Manchester United fans are hoping that they will get to see the famed midfielder, who broke onto the scene spectacularly in the 2018/19 season at Ajax, don the Old Trafford red.

With Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic both leaving the club at the end of June due to their expiring contracts, Frenkie de Jong and potentially another defensive midfielder have emerged as key targets this transfer window.

Despite Barcelona’s recent influx of cash, the latest reports from Spain seem to suggest that the Catalan club are still looking to sell De Jong for the right price.

Should the Holland international join the Manchester club, one thing that always excites fans is seeing what number will be on the back of any new player's shirt.

Now – Frenkie de Jong has worn the No.21 shirt at both Ajax and Barcelona, so the obvious assumption would be that he would just carry on with this number at Manchester United, recently vacated by Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani.

However, 21 is not the only number De Jong has worn so far in his career.

While in Ajax’s academy, the young Dutchman in fact wore five different shirt numbers; three of which are currently available.

The first number De Jong could take is the No.6 shirt, traditionally worn by the most deep-lying of midfielders. Most recently worn by summer departee Paul Pogba, the No.6 shirt has some bad blood of recent times, with Pogba being an incredibly divisive character among Manchester United fans.

The No.6 shirt pog-previous was worn by central-defender Johnny Evans and before him was Wes Brown. The two most famous players to wear the shirt other than Paul Pogba are Duncan Edwards during 57/58 and Steve Bruce in 90/91.

The second number to consider would be the famous No.8 shirt. Worn most recently by Juan Mata for almost a decade, it was held by Wayne Rooney during the Englishman’s breakout years at Old Trafford, before he transitioned to wearing the No.10 shirt in 2007.

Another contender for the No.8 shirt though is Bruno Fernandes. Currently wearing No.18, Fernandes wore the No.8 shirt for Sporting, and also has the number tattooed on his arm.

Should Fernandes take the No.8 top, the No.18 would become free – another number that Frenkie de Jong wore during his time with Jong Ajax.

Frenkie de Jong also wore No.17 and No.10 while in Ajax’s famous academy, however with these numbers being taken up by Fred and Marcus Rashford respectively, it is unlikely that De Jong could acquire either of them in the coming season.

Erik ten Hag is looking to push the Frenkie de Jong transfer through as fast as the club can, although there still remains a reported difference of millions between how much Manchester United want to pay and how much Barcelona want.

Ten Hag will want De Jong to join his new squad before pre-season starts against Liverpool on 12 July in Bangkok.

Manchester United will then face Melbourne Victory, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa in Australia before heading off to Oslo to face Atletico Madrid on 30 July, with pre-season rounding off at Old Trafford on 31 July against Rayo Vallecano.