Following the sale of Wayne Rooney and departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Romelu Lukaku had the choice between no.9 and no.10 for his shirt number when he signed for Manchester United.

After asking for Ibrahimovic’s blessing first, Lukaku settled on no.9 and ignored his mother’s preference of no.10.

I always asked my mother what number, and I used to play with the 10 because my mother’s birthday is on Oct. 10, so it’s the 10th month of the year. That’s why I played with No. 10. I asked for the number nine because I’m a striker. Strikers play with No.9. It’s a nice number.

In the modern era, Andy Cole has probably been the most successful player to have this squad number. It’s also been worn by Anthony Martial, before he was shifted over to no.11 following the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and before him, Radamel Falcao. When the Colombian joined, the shirt had been unworn for two seasons following the sale of Dimitar Berbatov who wore this shirt for his four seasons. Before him, Louis Saha was our no.9 and before him, Brian McClair.

Everyone who buys the RoM 2017-18 charity season preview will automatically be entered in to a competition to win the new Manchester United shirt with ‘Lukaku 9’ printed on the back. The shirt was made available by SoccerPro.com who are helping us support Trafford Macmillan.

Lukaku shirt 1

We’ve also teamed up with Classic Football Shirts who will be giving away £50 worth of retro United shirts to one lucky person who buys the preview. Have a look at CFS.com to see which shirts you could get your hands on.

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