Football is vividly filled with a lot of symbolism and perhaps the most iconic kit symbol in world football is the prestigious Manchester United kit number 7. To begin with , names like ‘George Best’, ‘Bryan Robson’, ‘Eric Cantona’ , ‘David Beckham’, ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’ have represented United in this number 7 kit. The prominence and distinction of this kit have been aptly justified with the achievement’s of the above names and usually the expectation of being world class is set in stone when a player is even partly linked to the number 7 kit at Old Trafford. However , this number 7 kit has been let down time and time again after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo who won 3 PL titles and 1 UEFA Champions League during his time in the number 7 kit.
Image credits : Sportwalk
Cristiano’s successor as the United no.7 was Michael Owen. The 2001 Ballon D’or winner was statistically the best no.7 among the ones that followed him. Owen was at the declining stage of his career but 5 goals for a United no.7 is still a embarrassing figure.
Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia took over the number after Owen but found the net only once while wearing the number. Although Valencia has been an integral part of United always and currently wears no.25 , he hadn’t found much success wearing 7.
A massive letdown was on the cards when the highly decorated Angel Di Maria joined the Red Devils in 2014. He was a world cup runner’s up , a La Liga winner and had a Champions League gold medal before his short stint with United took place. He ended up scoring 3 goals in a year and is a memory United fans wont want to hold on to.
Memphis Depay was termed ‘The Next Ronaldo’ . He definitely wore the same jersey but failed to produce even an ounce of Ronaldo’s feats at United. His 2 season spell at United brought him 2 goals and that’s all about it .
Alexis Sanchez was a big money buy during 2018 winter transfer window and he seems to have left his abilities at his former club Arsenal’s dressing room because so far he’s only found the net twice in 17 outings and it’s time the Old Trafford number 7 kit deserved better than CR7’s successors.
