Joshua Zirkzee’s Man Utd shirt number confirmed as Kobbie Mainoo number change hinted

Joshua Zirkzee’s first Manchester United shirt number has been revealed after the club hinted at a change in shirts for Kobbie Mainoo.

Zirkzee, 23, joined United last month from Bologna and is expected to make his debut in the Community Shield against Manchester City on the weekend.

The striker did not join Erik ten Hag’s squad on their pre-season tour as he was allowed an extended holiday after participating in Euro 2024 with the Netherlands.

It seemed obvious that he would either take the no.11 or no.9 as his shirt number, and the Dutchman admitted that he was open to taking whichever number Rasmus Højlund did not want.

Højlund decided to change from the no.11 to the no.9 this summer, so it seemed very likely that Zirkzee would take the Dane’s previous shirt number.

That was confirmed on Tuesday afternoon ahead of his potential debut at Wembley and it might not be the final shirt announcement this summer.

Of course, there could be new signings but it also appears that Kobbie Mainoo might be receiving an upgrade on his current no.37 after his breakthrough season last term.

At the start of this week, the teenager returned to Carrington along with Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martínez, and Facundo Pellistri.

Training images posted online showed all three of these players with their current shirt numbers on their kits. However, Mainoo’s kit was numberless.

This indicates that Mainoo may be in line for another upgrade, having changed from no.73 to no.37 at the beginning of last season.

One possible new number for the midfielder is the vacant no.19 following Raphaël Varane’s departure at the end of last season. The no.4 is also available.

Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is released every Thursday at 6 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.