New squad numbers blog 2024-25

Euro 2024 is still in full swing – see here for that kit-tracker – but the beginning of July means the real start of the transfer action (beyond the fake PSR-friendlly merry-go-round).

We will try to stay on top of any announcements of numbers for new signings, or players switching at their current clubs. If you hear of anything that we have not covered, please comment below or tweet @squadnos.

August 14

A trio of Aston Villa updates – the good, the bad and the unusual.

While it looked earlier in the summer as if Jhon Durán might be leaving Villa Park – especially when his number 24 shirt was given to new arrival Amadou Onana (see August 4 entry below) – but instead he is staying and has been allocated the number 9.

Bertrand Traoré had held the 9 for the past two seasons but spent chunks of both of those campaigns out on loan and has now joined Ajax, for whom he will wear 20.

Someone who is still with Villa but will surely never play for them again is Philippe Coutinho. After spending most of last season with Al-Duhail, he joined his boyhood club Vasco da Gama on loan in July.

That freed up the number 23, which goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez has now decided to wear, switching away from 1. Quite why it has taken more than a month for him to make the move is unknown.

And finally, the aforementioned piece from ten days ago noted how Jaden Philogene, who rejoined Villa from Hull City this season, had been wearing 16 in pre-season games.

However, now winger – who wore 52, 32 and 33 in his first spell with the club – has instead been assigned the number 19 shirt for the coming season.

August 13

Manchester United have confirmed the double signing of Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich.

Number 3 has been vacant at Old Trafford since Eric Bailly left a year ago and Mazraoui has taken that. While he can play at left-back – and often does for Morocco, wearing 3, with Achraf Hakimi on the other flank – he has played a lot of his football at right-back.

For Bayern, he wore number 40, as he initially did at Ajax before switching to 12.

Having made his debut for Ajax wearing 36, de Ligt soon switched to 4 and it is the only number has worn since at club level, taking in stints at Juventus and then Bayern, so it is logical that he wears it for United.

The on-loan Soufyan Amrabat had 4 for United last season, while Phil Jones had it for more than a decade prior to that. In the squad numbers era, the shirt has been worn by United defenders for 22 seasons (Steve Bruce, David May, Gabriel Heinze and Jones) and midfielders for eight (Juan Sebastián Verón, Owen Hargreaves and Amrabat).

For the Dutch national team, de Ligt usually wears 3 – presumably that it because Virgil van Dijk has dibs on 4.

When West Ham United assigned numbers to their new signings last week (see below), Andy Irving was given 29.

At previous clubs Heart of Midlothian and Austria Klagenfurt, the Scottish midfielder had worn 19 and so there is obviously some attachment to 9. A more specific preference is that of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who signed on Tuesday.

The right-back wore 29 for Manchester United and also for Crystal Palace before that. He requested the same at the London Stadium and so Irving has shifted to 39 to accommodate that.

August 12

Michael Olise will wear number 17 for Bayern Munich for the coming season.

The winger had 7 for previous club Crystal Palace – and for France at the Olympic Games – but at Bayern that is the property of Serge Gnabry and adding ten was seen as the best alternative.

Bryan Zaragoza, who wore 17 for Bayern last season, is spending the season on loan at Osasuna (wearing 19) while Sadio Mané had 17 before that.

At his first club Reading, Olise wore 48, 21 and then 7.

August 9

It’s been a busy day for West Ham United as their new signings have had their numbers assigned, along with a couple of existing players switching.

James Ward-Prowse took 7 when he arrived last year but the departure of Pablo Fornals has allowed him to wear the number he had for the last four years of his Southampton career.

That in turn has led to new signing Crysencio Summerville – 10 for Leeds United last season – opting to wear 7, while Niclas Füllkrug (14 for Borussia Dortmund and 9 for Germany) will wear 11, another number associated with strikers in his homeland.

Teenager winger Luis Guilherme, signed from Palmeiras, where he wore 31, will be the Hammers’ new number 17 while goalkeeper Wes Foderingham has taken 21, having had 18 for Sheffield United last season.

For the second season in a row, Maxwel Cornet has moved upwards – after going from 14 to 17 last season, now he will wear 22. World Cup-winning midfielder Guido Rodríguez has chosen number 24 – he wore 21 and then the position-appropriate (for Argentina) 5 for Real Bétis, having also had 5 at Club América.

Centre-back Max Kilman wore 49 and then 23 for Wolverhampton Wanderers and he is now West Ham’s number 26 while number 29 has gone to Andy Irving – most recently, he wore 19 for Austria Klagenfurt.

August 7

A pair of signings for French teams who will be wearing large numbers this season.

João Neves has joined Paris Saint-Germain from Benfica.

At Euro 2024, the defensive midfielder wore 15 for Portugal and the position-appropriate 6 is available at the Parc des Princes (or even 7 if he was feeling ambitious) but, instead, he has opted to stick with the 87 that he wore from his time as an apprentice in Lisbon.

Meanwhile, Georgi Mikautadze, one of the six joint-top scorers at Euro 2024, will be lining out for Olympique Lyonnais in 2024-25, having broken off a prior agreement with Monaco.

The Georgia international was born in Lyon and he spent his childhood with Les Gones before later joining Metz, where he wore numbers 33, 16 and 9. Last summer, he signed for Ajax and was assigned 19 before returning to Metz on loan and wearing 10.

At Euro 2024, he wore 22 for Georgia but back at Lyon he will don the number 69 – similar to Milan’s Yacine Adli, this is said to be in tribute to his home département.

August 6

Oleksandr Zinchenko has changed from number 35 to 17 at Arsenal.

Previously, that shirt was held by Cédric Soares, who has left the club. Zinchenko cited the fact that he wore 17 for his first club Ufa and the Ukraine national team as reasons for holding it dear.

At his previous club Manchester City, Zinchenko also moved away from 35, to 11.

And 11 is what new Manchester United attacker Joshua Zirkzee will wear.

The Netherlands international had worn 9 for Bologna last season after switching from 11 but he had said that, if Rasmus Højlund took 9 for United upon the departure of Anthony Martial, he would have no issue with 11.

Previously, he wore 35 and 14 for Bayern Munich as well as 17 while on loan to Parma.

After playing just seven times for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021-22, another Dutch international, Xavi Simons, joined PSV. Following a good season in Eindhoven, PSG exercised their buy-back clause but immediately loaned him out to RB Leipzig.

Simons – named after Xavi Hernández but of a more attacking ilk – wore 20 for the German side last season, but, with Emil Forsberg having joined New York Red Bulls in January, he has been able to switch to 10 for the coming campaign.

At Euro 2024, Simons wore 7 for the Netherlands, the same number he had while with PSV.

August 5

Brazil international right-back Yan Couto has been with Manchester City since 2020 but has never played for the club – he wore 16 on loan at Girona in 2020-21, then 2 for Braga in 2021-22 and 20 back for Girona for the past two seasons.

He will be spending 2024-25 on loan at Borussia Dortmund. In July, Dortmund’s number 2 Mateu Morey joined Mallorca and so Couto, who wore 13 for Brazil at the Copa América, will please the traditionalists as he dons the classic number for a right-back.

August 4

No official confirmation yet but these are new numbers that Aston Villa’s new signings have been wearing in pre-season.

Douglas Luiz’s departure for Juventus has allowed Ross Barkley to wear the 6 he had at Luton Town last season, while Samuel Illing-Junior – who joined as part of the Luiz deal – is also wearing the digits he had on his back last season. Enzo Barrenechea also arrived in the Luiz swap – he had 45 for Juve and while on loan at Frosinone but will not wear 21.

Jaden Philogene previously wore 52, 32 and 33 for Villa before signing for Hull City last season, wearing 23 there. He has re-signed for the Villans and now wears 16, while Serbian right-back Kosta Nedeljković used to wear 2 for Red Star Belgrade and will now have 20.

Left-back Ian Maatsen wore 29 and 22 for Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund last season and retains the latter – he had 20 for the Netherlands at Euro 2024 after being a late injury call-up – while Lewis Dobbin, who was 61 for Everton, is Villa’s new number 23.

Another signing from Everton is midfielder Amadoua Onana. He wore 8 for the Toffees, which is currently held by Onana’s compatriot Youri Tielemans. At Euro 2024, Tielemans was 8 for Belgium and so Onana wore 24, his number at previous clubs Hamburg and Lille, which he will also have at Villa Park.

Like Philogene, Cameron Archer has re-signed for Villa after a season away – he was 10 for Sheffield United last season but has reverted to the 35 he had in his previous stint at Villa and which was vacant last season.

August 3

Following on from yesterday, more Fulham news relating to a former Arsenal player.

Emile Smith Rowe has moved to Craven Cottage from Emirates Stadium and he will wear number 32 – the middle one of his three numbers for the Gunners, between stints at 55 and 10.

Presumably, there is a strongish possibility that Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard will move to the now-vacant number 10, which would in turn free up 8 for Spain international Mikel Merino, who is set to join from Real Sociedad.

August 2

With goalkeeper Marek Rodák having joined Al-Ettifaq, the vacant Fulham number 1 shirt has been claimed by Bernd Leno, who previously wore 17.

At his last club Arsenal, the German goalkeeper moved from 19 to 1 following Petr Čech’s retirement.

That in turn has allowed another former Arsenal man, Alex Iwobi, to move from the 22 that he wore last season to his favoured 17, which he wore for the Gunners and Everton.

At this year’s African Cup of Nations, Iwobi wore 17 for Nigeria, having previously donned 18 for his country.

July 30

Arsenal have made their first major signing of the summer (David Raya excepted) with the acquisition of Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna.

The Italian defender wore 5 for his country at Euro 2024 but had 33 for Bologna and Basel prior to that and has opted for the same at Emirates Stadium.

Having started off with 61 for Roma, he later wore 13 for i Giallorossi and then 16 for Genoa – both of the latter numbers are available at Arsenal but clearly the attachment to 33 has become strong. The last four players before Calafiori to wear 33 for Arsenal were goalkeepers – Arthur Okonkwo, Mat Ryan, Matt Macey and Petr Čech.

July 25

A pair of Tottenham Hotspur changes missed due to the enfevered state being experienced.

With the number 1 shirt having been empty since Hugo Lloris’s departure in January, first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has taken the opportunity to switch from 13.

Vicario, who had 12 for Italy at Euro 2024, had worn 13 for previous club Empoli and was number 31 for Cagliari before that but he did previous don 1 for Perugia.

His move has in turn allowed Destiny Udogie to trade in his number 38 for 13. There is an attachment there – he previously wore it for Hellas Verona and Udinese – though the neat-numbers freak would have hoped that the left-back would plump for 3 if and when Sergio Reguilón left.

July 24

It turns out that a bout of Covid is not the best help in getting up to date, but these things are out of our control.

A big enough move today to necessitate some action from the sickbed – as previously flagged, Rasmus Højlund has switched from number 11 to 9 at Manchester United.

Among intra-1-11 moves, it’s arguably the most common – as well as Højlund’s number 9 predecessor Anthony Martial – who was undoing the reverse move from a few years previously – other examples include Nicolas Anelka (Arsenal), Bojan Krkić (Barcelona), Chris Wood (Burnley), Robbie Fowler (Liverpool), Ronaldo and Karim Benzema (both Real Madrid).

Someone we would like to see make such a move is Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa, but that feels unlikely.

The expectation now is that new signing Joshua Zirkzee will take the number 11 shirt at United.

July 20

A bit of a backlog to get through after a week largely spent away from the computer.

Swedish 18-year-old Lucas Bergvall has joined Tottenham Hotspur and will wear the number 15 shirt.

It was last worn for Tottenham by Eric Dier, who joined Bayern Munich in January. Midfielder Bergvall previously wore 21 for Djurgårdens.

Tottenham have also announced a new sleeve sponsorship deal with Kraken, an American-based cryptocurrency exchange.

Another teenager who will have 15 on his back in the coming Premier League campaign is French defender Leny Yoro.

While there will naturally be comparisons drawn with Nemanja Vidić and United hope that the new arrival can have similar impact in the centre of defence, Yoro also wore that number for previous club Lille.

Manchester City’s new signing Savinho has opted for number 26, as a tribute to Riyad Mahrez, who was apparently one of his favourite players when he was growing up.

The shirt had been vacant last season following the departure of Mahrez for Saudi Arabia. Savinho wore 16 for previous club Girona and 33 for PSV prior to that. At the Copa América, he was Brazil’s number 20.

It says something about the peripatetic nature of Álvaro Morata’s career that the four years he spent at Atlético Madrid comprised the longest stint at any of his clubs.

From 2024-25, he will play for Milan – another club ticked off in the ‘Morata and Higuaín played for them’ game. While he has worn number 7 for Spain at every major tournament since Euro 2016, he had never worn it at club level – this has been made possible at his new club by midfielder Yacine Adli moving to 94.

The Frenchman’s choice has its roots in his hometown of Vitry-sur-Seine being in the département of Val-de-Marne – there are 96 such regions in France, each assigned a number that forms the basis of the postcodes within and Val-de-Marne’s number is 94.

With Olivier Giroud departing, Milan are still without a number 9.

July 12

Having worn 19 for Borussia Dortmund since joining in 2019, Julian Brandt has switched to the number 10 shirt for the coming season.

In 2017, the Germany international made the same move at Bayer Leverkusen after wearing 19 for four seasons there.

The Dortmund number 10 became free when Thorgan Hazard left in September of last year, though it was initially filled in January when Jadon Sancho returned to the club on loan from Manchester United. However, Sancho has now returned to Old Trafford.

The Dortmund number 11 remains vacant following Marco Reus’s departure after 12 years – it will be interesting to see if anybody wishes to take on such a mantle.

Incidentally, two Dortmund players – Niclas Füllkrug and Marcel Sabitzer – wore number 9 for their countries at Euro 2024 but it is worn by Sébastien Haller at Signal Iduna Park.

July 11

It’s not yet confirmed but it looks as if Harvey Barnes will wear the number 11 shirt for Newcastle United for the coming season.

The winger has been spotted with 11 on his new training gear – Matt Ritchie had worn that number for the Toon since 2015 but he has left the club.

Barnes wore 15 after signing from Leicester City last year – he had also traded down from 15 at the Walkers Stadium, shifting to 7 for his last two seasons with the Foxes.

Bayern Munich have signed João Palhinha from Fulham and he will wear number 16.

It’s one that always feels a suitable choice for a central midfielder and there is extra significance for the Portugal international – throughout his career he has always had a 6 on his back.

Initially given 86 for the Sporting B team, he later wore 66 for the Lisbon giants as well as 60 for Moreirense and 66 for Belenenses during loan spells.

After a two-season loan spell at Braga (wearing 60), he inherited 6 at Sporting in 2020 and when he joined Fulham two years later he took 26. At the European Championship, he was Portugal’s number 6.

Unusually, 16 has had quite a low-key history at Bayern, with no real headliner wearing it since Jens Jeremies from 1998-2006.

The last senior player to be properly assigned the number was Leon Dajaku in 2019-20 and he moved to 45 for 2020-21. In 2023-24, defender Luca Denk wore it on the bench for a German Cup game against Preußen Münster after he was called up from the Bayern II squad.

July 9

A brief WSL update: Vivianne Miedema has joined Manchester City after the expiration of her contract with Arsenal.

The Dutch forward wears 9 for her country and was 11 for the Gunners but she has taken 6 at City – the number was vacted following the retirement of another star player signed from Arsenal, Steph Houghton.

There are also two switches for existing City players – Jill Roord has swapped number 20 for 10 while Alanna Kennedy moves from 33 to 14.

One of the players replacing Miedema at Arsenal will be Spain attacker Mariona Caldentey. Having worn 9 at Barcelona, she has taken the empty number 8 – the number she also wears for the national side.

With 11 up for grabs following Miedema’s departure, Katie McCabe – previously 15 – has taken the opportunity to match up her digits with those she wears for the Republic of Ireland national team.

In addition, another Spain international, Laia Codina, will wear 5 for Arsenal for the coming season after Jen Beattie’s move to Bay FC in February left that available. Centre-back Codina had worn 27 following her arrival last season.

July 4

Olympique Lyonnais’ acquisition of Orel Mangala (see below) was not a one-off – the French club have agreed another deal with Nottingham Forest that will see Moussa Niakhaté move back to the country in which he was born.

The Senegal international centre-back will wear 19 for Lyon, as he did for Forest, and Mainz before that, as well as for his country.

July 3

Olympique Lyonnais have permanently signed Orel Mangala from Nottingham Forest, having spent the second half of 2023-24 on loan at the Ligue 1 side.

He will continue to wear the number 25 that he was given when he joined in January – Mangala also had number 7 in the Coupe de France, where 1-11 remains in force in the earlier rounds.

The midfielder had worn 5 for Forest while he was assigned number 18 for Belgium at the European Championship.

He previously wore 25 for another white, blue and red side, Hamburger SV, while he carried number 23 for VfB Stuttgart.

Wolverhampton Wanderers have signed teenage right-back Pedro Lima and he will wear number 37 – previously, he wore 54 for Sport Recife.

From 2018-23, the Wolves 37 was assigned to Adama Traoré and last season it was given to young attacker Fletcher Holman. He remains with the club but has yet to be given a new number.

July 2

Archie Gray will wear number 14 for Tottenham Hotspur after they paid the £30m required to activate his release clause from Leeds United.

At Leeds, Gray wore 63 and then 22. The 14 at Tottenham was freed up by the departure of Ivan Perišić, who has signed for Hajduk Split in his native Croatia after spending the second half of 2023-24 there.

While it had been announced last month that Lloyd Kelly would join Newcastle United, and that he would wear 25, the transfer only became official upon the expiry of his Bournemouth contract.

Centre-back Kelly, who is aged 25, wore 26 in his first season at the Vitality Stadium and then 5 for the next four campaigns, while 25 was his original number at his first club, Bristol City.

The number 25 had been vacant at Newcastle since Jamie Sterry left in 2019.

A little bit of a switcheroo at Brentford, following the arrival of striker Igor Thiago.

The Brazilian wore 99 at Club Brugge last season, having had 9 at Ludogorets Razgrad prior to that, and he has taken that most centre-forwardy of numbers at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Last year, the Bees’ number 9 was Kelvin Schade but the Germany international is more comfortable in wider roles and the end of Neal Maupay’s loan spell from Everton has allowed him to take 7 (thanks to Jim Hearson for spotting this one).