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Following the big news of the day that Everton had finally signed an outfield player, Idrissa Gueye from Aston Villa, they also dropped in the fact that the squad numbers of the current roster have been finalized. There have been some major changes.
The newbies
Gueye nabs 17, formerly worn by Tim Cahill, Romelu Lukaku and Mo Besic.
Maarten Stekelenburg will be number 22, which was vacated when Steven Pienaar left after last season.
Shani Tarashaj will go with 24, formerly Tim Howard’s number for many years before the goalkeeper headed back to the MLS.
Changes within the first team
Besic gave up 17 in order to take 21, left by Leon Osman at the end of the year.
Gerard Deulofeu will move from 19 to 7, which was actually already taken by a teammate. Awkward.
Ross Barkley and Bryan Oviedo traded numbers. The Englishman will now don 8 and the Costa Rican will settle into 20.
Youngsters Kieran Dowell and Tom Davies both edged closer to the lower numbers that they both are likely aiming for. Dowell switches from 51 to 28. Davies goes from 41 to 26
Omissions
No one is set to wear Tony Hibbert’s old number 2, for now. Surely, Everton will retire that number for ever. Sike!
The biggest news is that none of Aiden McGeady, Oumar Niasse or Luke Garbutt were even given numbers. In fact, McGeady’s preferred number 7 was given to Deulofeu. So, the writing is pretty much on the wall for those three: look for somewhere else to play your football.
The full team:
CONFIRMED: Here are our squad numbers for 2016/17. #EFC pic.twitter.com/XgpqCOMrtW
— Everton (@Everton) August 2, 2016
- Joel Robles
- Leighton Baines
- Darron Gibson
- John Stones
- Phil Jagielka
- Gerard Deulofeu
- Ross Barkley
- Arouna Kone
- Romelu Lukaku
- Kevin Mirallas
- Aaron Lennon
- Tom Cleverley
- James McCarthy
- Idrissa Gueye
- Gareth Barry
- Bryan Oviedo
- Mo Besic
- Maarten Stekelenburg
- Seamus Coleman
- Shani Tarashaj
- Ramiro Funes Mori
- Tom Davies
- Tyias Browning
- Kieran Dowell
- Mason Holgate
- Brendon Galloway
- Matthew Pennington
- Conor Grant
If you would like information on the history of each Everton shirt number, check out ToffeeWeb. They have it covered. If you purchased this year’s shirt with what has turned out to be an inaccurate number, Everton is telling people to contact them via email at customerservices@evertondirect.evertonfc.com and they will sort you out.