Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot has been assigned a new shirt number ahead of the 2025–26 season, having previously worn No. 20 since he joined the club seven years ago.
United released a handful of players out of contract at the end of last month, opening up shirt numbers that were previously occupied.
One of those belonged to Victor Lindelöf, but the No. 2 is now Dalot’s.
It is the archetypal right-back shirt number, worn with distinction by United legend and former captain Gary Neville from 1996 until his retirement in 2011. Ironically, Neville had also worn the No. 20 shirt immediately prior to acquiring No. 2, with Dalot following the same path.
Dalot was named Manchester United Players’ Player of the Year by his teammates at the end of the 2023–24 season and played 53 games across all competitions last season, as someone more naturally suited to Ruben Amorim’s tactical system than most in the squad.
The Portuguese had No. 30 for first club Porto when he made his breakthrough there, while a season on loan at AC Milan after falling out of favour with ex-United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was played with No. 5 on his back. Dalot has worn No. 2 sparingly in the past, for Porto at youth level, and for very occasionally for Portugal—although his usual number for his country is five.
Due to Neville’s long stint in the No. 2 shirt, very few players have worn it for Manchester United in the Premier League era—numbers became fixed ahead of the 1993–94 season.
The first to have the honour was Paul Parker, unexpected star of England’s 1990 World Cup squad but eventually usurped by Neville. After Neville was popular Brazilian talent Rafael da Silva, from 2012 until he was surprisingly sold in 2015. Lindelöf came into the shirt when he arrived from Benfica in the summer of 2017 and kept it until his recent release.
In years gone by, when shirt numbers were fluid and could change depending on who started each game, Johnny Carey, Bill Foulkes and Shay Brennan enjoyed most success wearing No. 2.
Man Utd No. 2 Shirt History—Premier League Era
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Man Utd Hand Ruben Amorim Favourite New Shirt Number.
