Manchester United confirm squad numbers for Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui

Manchester United have confirmed the kit numbers for Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, now that the two have officially sealed their moves from Bayern Munich.

On Tuesday night, United unveiled De Ligt, who put pen to paper on a contract until June 2029. The Red Devils have the option to extend his stay by an additional year.

Mere moments later, Erik ten Hag’s side also announced they had secured the services of De Ligt’s teammate at Bayern, Mazraoui.

Unlike De Ligt, Mazraoui signed a deal that runs until 2028 but United can trigger a clause to keep him for an extra 12 months.

United have now relayed that De Ligt will wear the no.4 shirt at Old Trafford when he takes to the field as a Red.

The Netherlands international has donned the very same number during most of his senior club career so far, despite the fact that he had the no.36 at Ajax during his first season at the Eredivisie outfit.

It’s only with the national team that De Ligt has veered away from his favoured no.4, often wearing the no.3 shirt.

Plenty of legendary United players have had the no.4 but it is mostly associated with Steve Bruce, who helped the club win four Premier League titles, two of which he was captain. The most recent no.4 at United was Phil Jones, who left in May 2023.

Meanwhile, Mazraoui will sport the no.3 for the 20-time English champions.

When he made his senior breakthrough at Ajax during the 2017/18 season, Mazraoui wore the no. 40 on his back. This was upgraded to 12 the campaign after – a number he retained for the remainder of his time at the club.

When he joined Bayern in 2022, Mazraoui went back to his roots and adopted the n.o 40 again, even though multiple other lower numbers were available, including 12.

At international level with Morocco, Mazraoui has almost always worn 3.

United point out, “As the traditional number for left-backs in England, the likes of Tony Dunne and Arthur Albiston were long-time wearers, while Denis Irwin was the first player to be listed at no.3 when the Premier League mandated squad numbers from the 1993/94 season onwards. The Republic of Ireland international kept the shirt until his departure for Wolves in 2002 and then it was passed to Phil Neville.”

Other former stars who wore the no.3 are Patrice Evra and Luke Shaw. Eric Bailly was the last incumbent before Mazraoui.