When Cristiano Ronaldo makes his “re-debut” for Manchester United after the international break, he will have his number 7 shirt back, thanks to Edinson Cavani. The Uruguayan center forward has agreed to vacate the extremely iconic number, and switch to #21 instead.
So indeed we will have CR7 again, and the market responded to this development with a lot of irrational exuberance. Ronaldo 7 is poised to likely become the highest selling sports shirt in a 24 hour period, ever.
Cristiano Ronaldo 7 shirt sales hit £32.5m in the first 12 hours.
The club has now recouped 1/4 of the £12.9m fee the club paid Juventus to bring Ronaldo to Old Trafford.
At this rate, they will recoup the whole transfer fee for Ronaldo over the weekend.
(LoveTheSales) pic.twitter.com/rri0sg4Kk0
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) September 4, 2021
Yes, indeed Cristiano Ronaldo 7 shirt sales had already hit £32.5m in just the first 12 hours. And it means Old Trafford recouped a quarter of the £12.9m fee that they paid Juventus to bring the Portugese magnifico back “home.”
In other words, it won’t be long until this piece of transfer business pays for itself, and then some. The No. 7 shirt is indeed iconic and legendary at Old Trafford, as it’s been worn previously by the likes of George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham.
That’s an impressive enough list for one club, let alone one shirt number at one club.
Michael Owen had it for three seasons, but after him we then saw a major drop-off in the level of players who wore it. Expensive flops Angel Di Maria, Memphis Depay and Alexis Sanchez all wore it before Cavani then assumed the position in 2020.
Kudos to Cavani for both getting that trend back on the right course, and helping out the footballer who is now the all-time leading scorer in international football history.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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