Manchester United assigned new squad numbers to their new signings Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez on Thursday, July 28, 2022.
Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez joined coach Erik ten Hag’s team in mid-July; they have now known their places in the team ahead of the commencement of the 2022/2023 Premier League season which will kick off in 7 days.
Eriksen, a former Tottenham Hotspur player who spent the last 6 months of his football career at Brentford was officially unveiled as a Red devil earlier this week, after joining as a free agent.
The Danish player who was brought in after Manchester United lost some key members of the club’s midfield this summer signed a three-year deal with the Red Devils which will expire on June 30, 2025. The Danish player has been assigned shirt number 14 ahead of his first season at Old Trafford.
🔴👹@ManUtd #ce14 pic.twitter.com/gbF4FJQUyS
— Christian Eriksen (@ChrisEriksen8) July 28, 2022
This will be a new era for Eriksen with his new squad number at Old Trafford having previously worn shirt number 8 at Ajax Amsterdam, number 24 at Tottenham Hotspurs, and most recently, number 21 and number 24 at Brentford and Inter Milan respectively.
Previous United players who have worn the number 14 of Manchester United include Javier Hernandez, Zoran Tosic, Alan Smith, Andrei Kanchelskis, Tim Howard, the late Andy Gora, and Jordi Cruyff.
Lisandro Martiner, the Copa America winner, who completed his move from Ajax earlier this week, will put on squad number 6 on the back of his shirt and front of his shorts in the coming season.
Just like his new teammate, he previously wore number 21 at one of his previous clubs and his most recent club, Ajax. Coincidentally as well, he had Eriksen’s new United number 14 at his boyhood club Newell’s Old Boys.
The 24-year-old will become the eighth holder of the number just vacated by enigmatic midfielder Paul Pogba. Gary Pallister was the first to put on the number regularly for United and did so right up until his departure in 1998.
The number which was made popular by the 1993 Premier League winner, Gary Pallister, is synonymous with center backs at Old Trafford.
United’s Legends like Jaap Stam, Laurent Blaunc, Rio Ferdinard, Johnny Evans, and the longest owner of the number 6 jersey, West Brown who had the shirt number for 9 years between 2003 and 2011, did wonders with the squad number at Old Trafford.
United’s football director, John Murtough is certainly pleased with the club’s new signings as he said: “Lisandro is an outstanding player who will bring further quality and experience to Erik (ten Hag)’s squad”.
“We are delighted that he has chosen to join Manchester United and we are looking forward to seeing him develop further and help the team achieve the success we are aiming for.
On Eriksen, the football administrator added: “Christian has been one of the best-attacking midfielders in Europe throughout his career. It is no surprise that he had so many options this summer, so we are really happy that he was convinced that this is the right club for him.”
The Old Trafford faithful will hope for both players to be involved in this weekend’s friendlies against Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano to enable them to get a first glance of what the new additions will bring to United week in, week out.
📩 Inbox (1)
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 27, 2022
🤳 @LisandrMartinez #MUFC pic.twitter.com/OcERuFnlRz
