What number will Donnarumma wear at Man City?
- Published
Gianluigi Donnarumma has chosen to wear the number 25 shirt at Manchester City following his deadline day move from Paris St-Germain.
The Italy international goalkeeper was expected to wear the number 99 shirt that he wore during his time in France, and at his boyhood club AC Milan.
But City have confirmed that the 26-year-old will instead wear the number vacated by Manuel Akanji, following his loan move to Inter Milan.
The number 25 shirt was also occupied by former City stopper Joe Hart in two spells between 2006-08, and 2009-2012.
Donnarumma wears the number one shirt at international level, but that squad number is already taken by goalkeeper James Trafford at the Etihad.
Players in England can wear any number between 1-99, but there are some restrictions on squad numbers in other leagues.
Donnarumma wore numbers 1, 50 and 99 in France but was prevented from wearing the latter until 2022-23 when Ligue 1 scrapped rules dictating that clubs could only use numbers 1-30.
Under those rules, goalkeepers were restricted to either 1, 16 or 30, meaning the Italian had to get special dispensation to wear the number 50 shirt for the 2021-22 season.
Players in Spain's top flight can still only select a number between 1-25. Those rules prevented Trent Alexander-Arnold from wearing 66 at Real Madrid.
This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
Get in touch
Send us your questions
What is Ask Me Anything?
Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions.
We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do.
The team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and pundits.
We will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting events.
Our coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio.