Man United hand shirt number worn by three former goalkeepers to new signing

Highly-rated left-back Diego Leon was Manchester United’s second signing this summer, joining from Paraguayan outfit Cerro Porteno.

Although United agreed a deal to sign him for an initial £3.2 million fee last December, he officially joined this summer.

Leon quickly made an impression on manager Ruben Amorim on his first day at Carrington., earning ‘a big beam’ from the Portuguese coach.

He has also been impressive in pre-season training this week and could be involved against Leeds United tomorrow, having been named in the travelling squad for the fixture.

Man United have now revealed that Leon will wear the number 30 shirt next season.

The Jersey has been worn by three former goalkeepers – former England youth international Nathan Bishop, Luke Steele, and Ben Williams.

Matteo Darmian, Guillermo Varela, Ritchie De Laet, Lee Martin, John O’Shea, Ronnie Wallwork, Wes Brown, Michael Twiss and John O’Kane have also donned it.

At Cerro, the youngster wore number 37 while he dons the number four shirt for Paraguay’s U20s.

Leon is determined to play for the first team and ‘don’t have that mindset’ of going out on loan.

Likewise, United do not plan on loaning him out as they want him to remain at the club to adapt to English football.

However, the Manchester outfit have yet to decide whether he will keep training with the first team or join the U21s.

Amorim has sufficient options to play at left wing-back, making it difficult for Leon to get enough playing time.

Patrick Dorgu established himself as the first-choice in that position last season, while Diogo Dalot, Noussair Mazraoui, and Luke Shaw could deputise for him.

The Paraguayan youngster can still force himself into Amorim’s plans if he impresses in the forthcoming games.

United have lined up five season pre-season friendlies, and Leon will hope to get sufficient minutes to impress Amorim.

Article written by Henry Thornton .