Heavy investments were made into the Manchester United squad this summer, with Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo all arriving at the club in high-profile transfers.
Sancho was the first major signing of the summer and although the 21-year-old has struggled to set the Theatre of Dreams alight in his first months at the club, Solskjaer has been pining for the deal to go through for years.
A year earlier, the club was left embarrassed when false optimism left them shorthanded in negotiations and he ended up staying at Borussia Dortmund for another season. Instead, they signed Edinson Cavani, who has become a fan-favourite among supporters.
The Uruguay international was handed the iconic number seven shirt, with the forward also credited with breaking the curse of the number. Since Ronaldo’s departure in 2009, several stars have worn the number but failed to deliver on the biggest stage.
Jadon Sancho wore the number seven shirt at Dortmund and the expectation was that the number was reserved for his arrival in 2020 but with Cavani’s one-year extension, trouble ensued at Old Trafford.
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According to The Athletic, Sancho was offered the number in 2020 negotiations and the safe offer was on the table this year, despite Cavani being the occupant of the number.
Cavani is said to have been far from happy at the idea of giving up his number for Sancho, a player 13 years younger than him, with the forward described as ‘put out’ by the request. Cavani was more inclined to hand the number over to Ronaldo for understandable reasons.
SN’s verdict on the situation…
Few supporters, and maybe even Manchester United officials, expected Ronaldo’s arrival late in August to perhaps Cavani’s insistence on keeping the number helped the club in the long term.
The prospect of the famous shirt number being switched across three players in one summer would have given the club a bad name.
Sancho is expected to enjoy a long, successful career at Manchester United and clearly, he is still fond of the number. On Instagram, he has kept the ‘JS7’ tag on his profile.
