admin Manchester United finally signed Sofyan Amrabat in the closing hours of the summer transfer window.
This is a buyback loan, which means you can borrow it permanently for the next year. The Moroccan international, whose prestige has grown after an outstanding 2022 World Cup campaign in which Atlas Lions reached the semifinals and finished fourth, has been courted by many sides but has made it clear to Fiorentina that he is only one wants club. connect. A promising midfield boost.
The fans are hoping Amrabat will be the stabilizing force Erik ten Hag needs on and off ball possession to improve midfield. Supporters will also be asking their new signing to do slightly better than United’s recent fourth-team winners, with Amrabata’s Old Trafford shirt confirmed on Tuesday.
Sofyan Amrabat shirt number history
In recent years, Amrabat has worn the number 34 in homage to Abdelhak Nouri / Giuseppe Bellini/GettyImages The Moroccan international has worn different squad numbers since joining Dutch club FC Utrecht, where he played for the Ten Witches for several years.
He initially wore the ’44 jersey but switched it to the 25 after his first senior season. Amrabat then wore the number 21 in his only season with Feyenoord before finally reclaiming the classic defensive midfield shirt at Club Brugge, with the midfielder wearing the number six. for Belgium.
After initially joining Hellas Verona on loan, Dutchman Amrabat opted for the number 34 shirt in 2019. Like many others who have bought this shirt from clubs across Europe in recent years, it proved to the former Ajax Player Abdelhak Nouri, who suffered a tribute in 2017, suffered severe permanent brain damage when he collapsed during a game due to an abnormal heart rhythm.
Amrabat kept this shirt after his move to Fiorentina and could have brought it to Manchester United if it hadn’t already been adopted by Donny van de Beek who would have chosen it for the same reason.
Every player to wear number 4 for Man Utd in the Premier League
Juan Sebastian Veron didn’t live up to his British record price tag / Shaun Botterill/GettyImages
*one game only vs Manchester City, February 2008
Steve Bruce was the first wearer of the number four in the Premier League era when fixed squad numbers were introduced ahead of the 1993/94 campaign – the skipper had already worn it regularly in the days of 1-11 shirts since he first joined from Norwich in 1987 anyway.
David May was anointed as the successor to the three-time Premier League-winning captain in 1996, with the former Blackburn defender having joined the club two years prior.
The Englishman was more often than not a squad player throughout his nine years at Old Trafford, eventually seeing his shirt passed on to £28.1m British record arrival Juan Sebastian Veron in 2001.
The less spoken about the Argentine’s stint in Manchester, though, the better. Veron set a rather frustrating tone for United’s four shirt in the 21st century. Fellow countryman Gabriel Heinze was initially a cult hero but then tainted his legacy by trying to force a transfer to Liverpool
From 2007, Owen Hargreaves had the four shirt next, although Nemanja Vidic actually wore it for a very special one-off occasion in 2008 when the FA and Premier League allowed United to play in 1-11 shirts for a Manchester derby in commemeration of the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster. Phil Jones then had it for 12 years, although he rarely played after 2019 because of injury problems.
In the years prior to the Premier League era, number four had belonged to a host of club legends, from Eddie Colman, who aged 21 was the youngest player killed in the Munich crash, to Paddy Crerand, Sammy McIlroy, Ray Wilkins and Norman Whiteside. An 18-year-old Ryan Giggs even bizarrely wore it for a couple of First Division games in February 1992.
