Joao Cancelo has been assigned a new shirt number by Manchester City for the upcoming season.
Cancelo, 28, signed for the Premier League champions from Juventus three years ago and has worn the number 27 shirt throughout his time at the Etihad Stadium. However, after a stunning campaign, the Portuguese has now been rewarded with an upgrade.
Indeed, he has been handed the number 7 shirt by Pep Guardiola after England forward Raheem Sterling signed for Chelsea in an initial £47.5million deal plus add-ons. City will begin life without Sterling and other high-profile outings on their pre-season tour to the United States.
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Guardiola and his star-studded team will take on Club America in their first friendly match. It takes place in Houston in the early hours (UK time) on Thursday morning and Cancelo, who signed a contract extension back in February to extend his stay at the club until 2017, will wear number 7 for the first time against the Mexicans.
Cancelo progressed through the Benfica system and, during his time in the senior set-up there, wore shirt numbers 70 and 25. He donned 2 for three seasons at Valencia - before switching to 7 - and also wore number 7 during a loan spell with Italian side Inter Milan during the 2017/2018 campaign.
In his one term at Juventus, Cancelo was assigned 20 and picked up the number 27 jersey when signing for City in a £58.5million transfer. Other players to have worn the number 7 at City since 2000 include current Liverpool midfielder James Milner, Stephen Ireland, Robbie Fowler and Darren Huckerby.
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