Manchester United are keen to swiftly move on from a disastrous 2024-25 campaign and they appear to be prioritising to addition of two exciting attackers heading into the summer transfer window.
Ruben Amorim's first signing of the summer could be Matheus Cunha as the Red Devils have allegedly reached a full verbal agreement to sign the 26-year-old forward from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Man United have decided to activate Cunha's £62.5m release clause and the full fee is set to be paid in three instalments during a two-year period, while the player himself is said to have agreed a five-year contract at Old Trafford until 2030, with an option until the summer of 2031.
Another highly-rated Premier League forward who could be heading to the red side of Manchester is 22-year-old Liam Delap, as Amorim's side have reportedly agreed the framework of a deal with Ipswich Town to sign the former Man City man for £30m.
Here, Sports Mole takes a look at the shirt number history of both Cunha and Delap, and what numbers they could take at Man United should they finalise their respective transfers this summer.
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Cunha expected to wear iconic No.10 shirt at Man United
Starting off with Cunha, it has already been reported that the Brazil international will take the iconic No.10 shirt at Man United, with current occupant Marcus Rashford likely to seek pastures new this summer following a loan spell at Aston Villa.
Cunha would therefore follow in the footsteps of a plethora of Man United legends who have also sported the 10 jersey at Old Trafford, including Sir Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, George Best, Roy Keane, David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney.
Cunha was given the No.10 shirt by Wolves only last summer, having previously worn the number 12 in his first 18 months at Molineux.
Before joining Wolves in January 2023, Cunha represented Swiss outfit FC Sion, RB Leipzig, Hertha Berlin and Atletico Madrid, beginning his career with the former and wearing the numbers 70 and 18.
Cunha only donned the No.20 across two seasons with Leipzig, before sporting three different shirt numbers across a year-and-a-half spell with fellow Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin. The Brazilian worn numbers 26, 10 and 9 before switching back to 10 shortly before joining Atletico Madrid in 2021.
He was initially given shirt number 19 at Atletico, but he opted to change after one season to number nine, which was vacated by Luis Suarez following his departure.
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Could Delap receive familiar shirt number at Man United?
As well as 10, should Rashford leave Old Trafford, numbers 2, 14 and 35 will all become available when Victor Lindelof, Christian Eriksen and Jonny Evans all leave the club upon the expiration of the contracts, while numbers 12, 19, 21, numbers 27 to 36, 38, 39 and 40 are also up for grabs.
Should Cunha indeed take No.10, the number 19 jersey would seemingly appeal to Delap, as he currently wears that at Ipswich where he scored a team-high 12 Premier League goals in 2024-25.
Delap began his career on the blue side of Manchester and was given the No.48 shirt when he signed his first professional contract with Man City in July 2020, before making his senior debut under Pep Guardiola just two months later.
The Englishman was then sent out on loan to three different Championship clubs and scored a combined total of 12 goals across spells with Stoke City, Preston North End and Hull City, wearing numbers 17, 7 and 20 respectively.
From Under-19 to Under-21 level with England, Delap has worn No.19 and more recently No.9, while Cunha has predominantly donned No.21 on senior international duty with Brazil.
Oliver Thomas
