- Man Utd have agreed £60m transfer with Chelsea
- Mason Mount set to move to Old Trafford
- Dream shirt number potentially available
Manchester United are on course to finally make Mason Mount their first signing of the summer following a breakthrough agreement in talks with Chelsea.
Having already seen mutliple bids for the England midfielder rejected, United at last struck a deal with Chelsea that will see them pay an initial £55m for Mount, topped up by £5m in add-ons.
Things are now expected to progress quickly. Personal terms have already been agreed with the player and he will put pen to paper on a five-year contract once a medical is complete.
Mount will bring additional creativity and goals to a midfield unit that already contains Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen. Even Casemiro chipped in with a number of goals last season.
Given the high profile nature of the transfer and the fact that he is already a known Premier League player and a prominent member of the England squad, Mount is likely to be a popular shirt with United fans this summer and beyond.
Mason Mount shirt number history
Mount has only worn one shirt throughout his time in the Chelsea first-team and that is 19.
Having donned all manner of shirts in various junior age groups, he intially took 19 during a defining loan spell at feeder club Vitesse Arnhem in 2017/18 and it seemingly struck a chord.
The only other jersey Mount has worn at senior club level is 8 during a loan at Derby.
At international for England, 19 has again been his preferred number when it comes to major tournaments, assigned the shirt at both Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup. But outside tournaments, England jerseys are number 1-11 for each match, which has seen the player also wear 7, 10 and 11 at one time or another for his country, as well as 17, 18 and 20 off the bench.
Man Utd available shirt numbers
The most famous open shirt at United is 7, last worn by Cristiano Ronaldo prior to his sudden exit in November. But there are also other contenders for it: Jadon Sancho and Alejandro Garnacho.
Mount’s favoured 19 is currently occupied by Raphael Varane, but there is a strong possibility the Frenchman could actually vacate it in order to switch to the newly open 4 – the number that he has worn for a decade at international level.
24 is definitely available, as are 31 and 32. Other numbers likely to become available due to outgoing players are 15, 26 and 27, and possibly 25 if Sancho ends up trading down to 7.
But if Varane does swap his shirt to leave 19 free, that seems like the obvious choice for Mount.