How important is Manchester United s jersey number?

Perhaps this question should be asked by Mattus Kunia and Marcus Rashford. Last Tuesday, Manchester United's new red home jersey was officially released, and Cunha took over the No. 10 jersey that Rashford once wore. Just pay £85 and then spend £20 to print Cunha’s name, number and Premier League badge and you’ll have this new jersey.

Manchester United has already laid the foundation for Rashford to give up No. 10 in order to avoid dissatisfaction among fans - especially those supporters who spent a lot of money to buy the "No. 10" jersey, suddenly found that their idol changed their numbers.

In the past decade, except for Cristiano Ronaldo, Rashford's jersey sales have been among the best. He has crossed the generational gap and is loved by fans of all ages until his state has declined recently. Young fans often prefer young offensive players (such as Alejandro Garnacho and Amad last season), while older fans may prefer Bruno Fernandez. Rashford gave up No. 10, which further highlighted that he was no longer in Ruben Amorin's core plan. Although the trend of fans printing numbers behind the jerseys has been rising, it has been profitable, and Manchester United's business operations in this regard are benchmarks. Even though the team's record fluctuates, the performance of the business department has always been impressive.

But in terms of jersey sales, no number can surpass "Ronaldo No. 7". When he joined the team for the second time in August 2021, his jersey sales even exceeded the first time from 2003 to 2009. Four years ago, outside the Mega store in Old Trafford, fans lined up to the football hotel just to snap up his jerseys - a grand occasion that has never been seen in the store's 30 years since its opening. Manchester United executives were well aware of the principle of "striking while the iron was hot", especially CEO Ed Woodward, who successfully convinced the Glazer family that the business returns would inevitably be amazing when signing Ronaldo.

The so-called "hero jerseys" in the football world (a jersey with the player's exclusive name and number) is partly due to Manchester United's success in commercial operations since the 1990s.

7 has become Manchester United's most iconic number (in 2017, the club registered the "Old Trafford 7" trademark), which originated from legends such as George Best, Brian Robson, Eric Cantoner and David Beckham who all wore this number, and Ronaldo pushed it to the top. But it is interesting that although No. 7 is regarded as exclusive to wingers or forwards, Best wears No. 11 longer than No. 7, and as a central advanceer, Robson never even wears No. 7 in the Premier League (he changed to No. 12 in 1992).

Generally speaking, the striker has the highest sales volume, but there are exceptions. Beckham is a classic example, and Juan Sebastian Veron's jersey was also a best-seller - when he joined Rude Vanny in 2001, the jersey sales were four times that of Vanny. At that time, Perron was promoted as a world-class player at the peak of Manchester United's first signing. His popularity was directly reflected in sales, although this transfer was not as successful as fans expected. Obviously, jersey sales always fluctuate with players' performance.

The 1993-94 season, the second year of the birth of the Premier League, it became a common practice to print the player's name and number on the jersey. Before this, players' numbers were flexible and varied, especially all-round players. "Walking through all numbers" was once a proud achievement. It was not until Manchester United began assigning fixed numbers to players that a combination of names and numbers officially appeared behind the jersey.

From then on, players began to yearn for the number they like. For young professional players, being able to get a fixed number is an important starting point in their careers, and as their career advances, the number tends to become smaller (usually the smaller the number is more valued).

Self-esteem is also an important factor. When Ibrahimovic got rid of his injury and wore Manchester United's No. 10, Romelu Lukaku asked if he could change to wear No. 9. Ibrahimovic agreed happily and joked that he had "upgraded" the number - thinking about it, Ferenc Puskas, Bailey, Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Roberto Baggio, Dennis Borgkamp, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi all wore No. 10, and this number does carry special meaning. By the way, Ibrahimovic initially wore No. 9 when he joined Manchester United, and Anthony Martial changed to No. 11. It was not until Ibrahimovic and Lukaku left the team that the Frenchman regained No. 9.

Although Manchester United jersey sales have always remained high, there has been a lack of true "phenomenal" stars in recent years. Bruno Fernandez is the core. After joining in 2022, Lisandro Martinez briefly became a representative of "tough guys" and is very popular in the niche circle; as a star of hope last season, Cobe Meno's jersey sales before his injury also reflected his popularity.

Fans always tie numbers to specific players: Paul Scholes, Ashley Young, Fernandez and Casemiro all crossed No. 18; Roy Keane (who had rejected No. 7) and Michael Carrick all crossed No. 16.

"I said to him 'Give you number 16', and he later told the reporter that he was very satisfied," Sir Ferguson recalled Carrick's situation when he joined the team. "This reflects his courage, because some players are superstitious about numbers, but he readily accepted it and said he would be happy to wear No. 16."

But Carrick's memory is slightly different: "I sat in the boss's office, and I should have just arrived on the team that day, and he asked 'Which number wants?' I said 'It doesn't matter'. He said 'How about No. 16?' I said 'Okay, no problem'. To be honest, I really don't care, I don't think anything at all."

But someone does care. Antonio Valencia couldn't stand the pressure brought by the No. 7 and after a mediocre season, she took the initiative to change back to the previous No. 25. There are some more special situations: In the years since the start of the Premier League, Manchester United did not use fixed numbers in European arenas. The last time I wore No. 1-11 to compete in the European competition was the 1996-97 season losing to Juventus; since then, the European numbers and league numbers have been completely separated - Phil Neville to wear No. 12 in the League, No. 28 in the European competition, Paul Scholes to wear No. 18 in the League, and No. 12 in the European competition.

To be honest, we don't understand this operation either.

So, is the jersey number really important? Perhaps the answer depends on who you are asking.