Andrey Santos Assigned Man Utd Shirt Number With Mixed History

The Brazilian midfielder is the first new face through the door this summer.

Andrey Santos has signed a contract though 2031. | Manchester United/Getty Images

Manchester United have made Andrey Santos the club’s first signing of the summer, kicking off a midfield rebuild that was considered urgent even before Casemiro’s recent farewell.

Santos has made that move from Chelsea, having played more than 40 times across all competitions last season but representing an opportunity for BlueCo to cash in and raise profit. He wore no. 17 at Stamford Bridge and he has now taken the same digits at Old Trafford.

The Brazilian began playing pro soccer for Vasco da Gama back home aged 16. In 2023, he moved to Europe to join Chelsea at 18 and was still a teenager when a loan at Nottingham Forest didn’t work out how anyone had hoped. An impressive 18 months at Strasbourg built Santos back up and now he’s inside the top 20 most expensive Manchester United signings of all time.

Santos will become the 11th Brazilian to play for the club after Kléberson, Anderson, Rafael, Fábio, Andreas Pereira, Fred, Alex Telles, Antony, Casemiro and Matheus Cunha. Rodrigo Possebon was born in Brazil but later went on to represent Italy at international level.

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Santos’s Career Shirt Numbers History

Santos had 17 on his back last season. | Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

Santos has a worn a small collection of shirt numbers in his career to date, but a couple appear to stand out—8 and 18—based on his emergence at Vasco da Gama and success with Strasbourg.

He was initially assigned 20 in Chelsea colors, then 17, with 12 at Nottingham Forest in between.

For much of his junior international career with Brazil, Santos often wore 5 as a reflection of his defensive-midfield role on the pitch. For the senior Seleção it has always been 18.

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Complete History of Man Utd’s No. 17 Shirt

Nani was nominated for the 2011 Ballon d’Or. | John Peters/Manchester United/Getty Images

The advent of assigned shirt numbers in the Premier League in 1993 means only a comparatively short history for 17, compared to more storied digits in Manchester United lore such as 7 or 11.

It was first handed to Colin McKee, a contemporary of David Beckham, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes et al in the fabled Class of ’92. But the young forward made only a single appearance—a 0–0 draw against Coventry City in May 1994—before leaving the club. A few months later, Andy Cole joined in a British record transfer from Newcastle United, wearing 17 the day he became the first player of the Premier League era to score five goals in a match, against Ipswich Town in February 1995.

But Cole spent only 18 months with it, making most of his contributions to Manchester United wearing 9 instead. Backup goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw kept it warm for six years, followed by short spells from homegrown midfielder Michael Stewart and the late Liam Miller.

Henrik Larsson was a fan favorite during a brief loan at the start of 2007, after which came the arrival of Portuguese winger Nani, easily United’s most successful occupant of the jersey thanks to winning four Premier League titles and the Champions League across seven years.

Daley Blind had good moments, Fred had fewer. The most recent wearer before Santos was the Brazilian’s former Chelsea colleague Alejandro Garnacho, who had 17 on his back when he scored the stunning overhead kick that claimed the 2024 FIFA Puskás Award.

Player	Years
Colin McKee	1993–1994
Andy Cole	1995–1996
Raimond van der Gouw	1996–2002
Michael Stewart	2002–2003
Liam Miller	2004–2006
Henrik Larsson	2007
Nani	2007–2014
Daley Blind	2014–2018
Fred	2018–2023
Alejandro Garnacho	2023–2025
Andrey Santos	2026–present

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