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Marcel Sabitzer’s potential shirt number at Manchester United.
On the final day of the transfer window, Manchester United finalized the loan signing of Marcel Sabitzer from Bayern Munich to fill the void left by the injured Christian Eriksen.
With 66 appearances for Austria to date, the 28-year-old is an accomplished international midfielder with a solid reputation for his all-around talent.
Eriksen’s ankle injury, which he sustained in the Red Devils’ 3-0 FA Cup fourth-round victory over Reading, suddenly left them with less choices in the centre of the field. Initially, Erik ten Hag had been content with the options available to him at United.
Scott McTominay also has a health issue, leaving Ten Hag with the senior fit choices of Sabitzer, Casemiro, Fred, and Bruno Fernandes.
Sabitzer must decide which number he will wear at Old Trafford before he makes his United debut.
Sabitzer has worn the number 7 jersey for most of his career.
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Before switching to the number 18 shirt when he joined Bayern Munich, he wore that number at both RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig.
Sabitzer has previously sported the number 24 shirt when playing for Rapid Vienna and Admira Wacker.
Sabitzer has sported the numbers 9, 10, 14, 16, and 20 on the international stage. At the Under-21 level, he also wore the numbers 7 and 17.
The good news for Sabitzer is that number 7 is now available at Old Trafford following Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure, and number 24 is also available.
9 is occupied by Anthony Martial, 10 by Marcus Rashford and 18 by Casemiro.
If none of those strike Sabitzer’s fancy, he may choose to wear number 13 or number 15, the latter of which was last worn by Andreas Pereira prior to his departure to Fulham last summer.
It then becomes a matter of whether Sabitzer wants to take on a number of 40 or higher because United have a number of other numbers filled by youth players on loan.