Getting shirty
Dani Alves given No10 shirt at Sao Paulo after snubbing Man City and Spurs transfers
DANI ALVES has completed a switch to Sao Paulo, but he was given an unusual shirt number.
Alves, 36, clinched the Ligue 1 title with Paris Saint-Germain last term before heading back to his boyhood club last night.
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Manchester City and Tottenham had both been in the running but the former Barcelona star snubbed them both.
The legendary full-back instead signed a three-year deal with the Brazilian giants, after which he was presented with the No 10 shirt.
Usually that jersey is afforded to strikers or creative midfielders.
It will lead to suggestions that Alves could play in a more advanced role in the final years of his career rather than busting a lung getting up and down the pitch as a full back.
That remains to be seen, but he wouldn't be the first player to raise eyebrows with an unusual choice of shirt number.
ODD NUMBER
Fifa put the question to those on Twitter and fans were quick to point out some memorable odd combinations.
Khalid Boulahrouz wore the No9 jersey at Chelsea despite being a defender while Wilfried Bony wore No2 at Swansea and Asamoah Gyan the No3 despite being strikers.
Upon Alves signing for Sao Paulo, the club's president Carlos Augusto de Barros de Silva said: “Daniel Alves is the embodiment of what this management envisions for Sao Paulo – one of the leading players in the world and recognised for his immense professionalism, his fierce determination and his endless thirst for titles and victories.
dani alves
"He is also a socially engaged citizen and passionate about our country. Sao Paulo, therefore, wins on every possible front.
"One day I told Daniel that he would come to play at Sao Paulo, the club of his heart.
“Today I have the immense joy and pride to have kept that promise."
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