Marcus Rashford’s Aston Villa squad number revealed… and it’s not one he wore during his Man United career

Aston Villa have confirmed that loan signing Marcus Rashford will wear their No 9 shirt for the remainder of the season.

Rashford joined Villa from Manchester United over the weekend on an initial loan deal until the end of the season.

The deal also includes an option for Villa to sign for English forward permanently for a pre-agreed fee, understood to be £40million. 

Rashford had worn the No 10 shirt at United since the summer of 2018. He had two other squad numbers during his senior United career, making his first-team debut with 39 on his back, before being promoted to No 19 at the start of the 2016-17 season.

No 10 was available upon Rashford’s arrival at Villa Park as it was last worn by Emiliano Buendia, who left the club last week when he joined German champions Bayer Leverkusen on loan.

However, Rashford was instead assigned the jersey recently vacated by Jhon Duran following the Colombia striker’s £65m move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr.

Rashford, 27, arrived at Villa Park over the weekend, initially on loan for the rest of the season

Rashford has scored 138 goals in 426 senior appearances for United. However, his last game for the Red Devils came way back on December 12, before he fell out with manager Ruben Amorim.

Rashford said upon completing the first transfer of his career: ‘I would like to thank Manchester United and Aston Villa for making this loan deal happen.

‘I was lucky to have a few clubs approach me but Aston Villa was an easy decision – I really admire the way that Aston Villa have been playing this season, and the managers’ ambitions. I just want to play football and am excited to get started.’

‘I wish everyone at Manchester United all the best for the rest of the season.’