Manchester United have confirmed what shirt number Wout Weghorst will be wearing for them during his loan spell from Burnley.
Weghorst recently joined Man Utd on loan for the rest of the season after spending the first six months of it with Besiktas. His spell in Turkey was interrupted so he could return to English football with United.
Erik ten Hag’s side have been needing a new attacker since letting go of Cristiano Ronaldo in November. Operating on a tight budget for the winter, though, they had to be creative with who they targeted.
Weghorst was the man they eventually settled for. His arrival at Old Trafford on loan until June was confirmed on Friday.
The Netherlands international was not registered in time to play in the Manchester derby the next day. Although, he was in attendance as a spectator.
However, the club’s official website has revealed that he underwent his first group training session on Sunday at Carrington.
As such, he is now in contention to make his Man Utd debut on Wednesday, when they visit Crystal Palace.
In a positive mood after beating Manchester City in the derby, it is unlikely United will feel the need to throw Weghorst straight into the starting lineup. But he could give them the option from the bench that Ten Hag has been craving.
Before Weghorst joined the club, his compatriot Ten Hag had been speaking about his desire to add someone who could have an impact in changing games as a substitute.
Despite only having two Premier League goals to his name from his Burnley days, Weghorst could be the solution he was wanting. After all, he was in better form for Besiktas, scoring nine goals in 18 games for them.
Wout Weghorst takes new shirt number
With his debut potentially just days away, Man Utd have also confirmed Weghorst’s shirt number.
The 30-year-old will be wearing the number 27 jersey, following in the footsteps of the likes of Gary Neville (1992-1995), Terry Cooke (1995-1997), Mikael Silvestre (1999-2008), Federico Macheda (2009-2013), Marouane Fellaini (2015-2019) and Alex Telles (2020-2022).
Weghorst previously wore the number 10 for Besiktas, number 9 for Burnley, Wolfsburg, AZ Alkmaar and FC Emmen, number 19 for Heracles and number 28 for FC Emmen.
Those numbers are occupied at United by Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Raphael Varane and Facundo Pellistri respectively.
With the Dutch national team, he has either taken the number 14 or 19. But the 14 is already taken at United too, by Christian Eriksen.
Hence, wearing the number 27 will be a new experience for Weghorst. What matters, though, will be how he performs in the United shirt, regardless of the number on his back.
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The article Wout Weghorst shirt number revealed after first Man Utd training session with debut now imminent appeared first on Teamtalk.com.
