Zlatan
Ibrahimovic has taken the No 9 shirt at Manchester United, with previous
occupant Anthony Martial moving to No 11. The Swedish
striker has varied between numbers eight, nine and 10 throughout his career but
with all three taken upon his arrival at Old Trafford, he was expected to have
to settle for different number.
But Martial
has moved to 11 while previous occupant Adnan Januzaj now has 15. Juan Mata
keeps No 8 and Wayne Rooney remains on No 10.
United's
other summer signings, Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, have taken No 3 and
No 22 respectively.
One notable
absence is No 6, which is perhaps being kept free for Paul Pogba, who wore the
same number in his early days at Juventus.
United fans
will not be able to see Ibrahimovic donning the No 9 shirt for the club's tour
of China, with boss Jose Mourinho deciding to give the striker an extended
break after Euro 2016.
'My decision
with Zlatan is a consequence of many hours of study, analysis and discussion
with my staff. Although he was out of the Euros one match before the English
guys, everything is different,' Mourinho said.
‘The body is
different, the mind is different, the personality; the time he needs to adapt
and have holidays. Even things you don’t have to know, which is to prepare in a
different way.
‘At the training level we try to do suits by
measure, perfect for the person. The way I’m building the team, it is more
important for me the players from other positions than the one that I think is
going to play as the striker. I need to change the profile of this team in
relation to other dynamics, and the striker will be the easy one to finish the puzzle.’
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