Wout Weghorst has revealed he asked Alex Telles if he could don his squad number during his loan spell at Manchester United.
Weghorst, 30, became Erik ten Hag's second signing of the January transfer window last week following the arrival of Jack Butland. The striker has moved to Old Trafford on a six-month loan deal, which does not include an option to make it permanent.
The Dutchman was on loan at Besiktas until the end of this season, but United paid the Turkish club £2.6million, via Burnley, to terminate their agreement with the Clarets early, which allowed him to complete the switch to United.
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Weghorst was not signed in time to feature in the Manchester derby but he could make his debut against Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
He has chosen to wear the No.27 shirt during his loan stint at Old Trafford, but he had to receive permission from Brazilian left-back Telles, who is currently on a season-long loan at Sevilla, so that he could wear the shirt number he wanted.
“Of course, I looked into the ones that are free or available. Two and seven will make nine, of course – a striker’s number,” Weghorst told United's in-house media. "I had a feeling with it. Of course, when I came here, I heard about it was Alex [Telles]’s number.
"He got loaned out now, so I first had to ask him if that was okay. I said that was, for me, important and then, in the end, there was no problem so thanks to him also. So yeah, I go for the 27 and actually it’s just because I had a good feeling with it.”
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