Manchester United confirm Tyrell Malacia shirt number and Bruno Fernandes change

Tyrell Malacia joined Manchester United from Feyenoord, and his squad number has been issued.

Tyrell Malacia, who joined Manchester United this summer, will wear the number 12 shirt next season, while Bruno Fernandes will swap from 18 to 8.

Malacia joined Old Trafford for an initial €15 million fee from Eredivisie side Feyenoord, and he remains the club’s solitary signing this summer. Christian Eriksen has verbally agreed to sign, but other prospects are still hesitant to join them as part of the rebuild.

Cristiano Ronaldo will be missing for at least the first half of United’s pre-season tour to Thailand, Australia, and Norway, which begins on Friday morning. Due to a family matter, he is yet to report for pre-season.

Of course, there is concurrent transfer talk around the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, and Ronaldo wishes to leave, though United has reiterated that he is not for sale. In any case, United will depart without him.

On the eve of that summer trip, United assigned Malacia number 12, and with that news, it was also stated that Fernandes will be given his dream team number. Fernandes has been wearing number 18 since arriving at Old Trafford from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020.

Juan Mata was wearing his favorite shirt number at the time. However, the Spaniard left after his contract expired this summer.

Fernandes, who signed a new five-year contract with United before new manager Erik ten Hag was appointed, explained his desire to wear number 18: “There are a lot of reasons behind the No. 18. It’s a good number for me.

“I’ve played as No. 8 for the previous three years since it’s the number my father had as a player and also my birthday [date].” That’s the number I prefer.”