Chelsea have assigned the number 19 shirt to new signing Jadon Sancho for the 2024/25 season.
Sancho has signed for the Blues on an initial loan from Manchester United – if certain undisclosed conditions are met, the deal will become permanent.
The winger’s move to Stamford Bridge was wrapped up just before the transfer deadline, even though confirmation wasn’t made public until nearly 24 hours later.
With Sancho now in the door, Chelsea have handed him his squad number for the upcoming campaign, with the England international taking 19.
There is a peculiar recent history of that number at Chelsea. It was actually assigned to fellow summer signing Pedro Neto following his switch from Wolves last month, and he made his debut against Manchester City in that shirt.
However, Neto soon changed to seven – which was stripped off of Raheem Sterling, who has since joined Arsenal on loan – and so the 19 was left vacant again.
Neto had taken 19 off of another player Chelsea deemed surplus to requirements, with Armando Broja also losing his number before heading out on loan to Everton.
Before Broja, 19 was worn by academy graduate Mason Mount, who left to join United in the summer of 2023 but is yet to rediscover the form of his Chelsea days.
The likes of Diego Costa, Demba Ba, Paulo Ferreira, Lassana Diarra and Scott Parker have also taken on 19 for the Blues in the Premier League era of permanent shirt numbers.
Sancho will not be eligible to make his Chelsea debut against Crystal Palace on Sunday, but could feature in their trip to Bournemouth on the other side of the September international break.
