Conor Gallagher is set to be denied his dream shirt number at Tottenham. The 25-year-old is closing in on a £34.7million move to north London after Spurs pipped Aston Villa to his signature.
Thomas Frank's side moved fast to bring a new central midfielder through the doors after it was revealed Rodrigo Bentancur is expected to miss a matter of months with a hamstring injury.
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Spurs are long-time admirers of England international Gallagher and tried to sign him before he moved to Atletico in 2024. But now, it appears that Tottenham are finally about to get their man with the England star flying in ahead of his medical and announcement.
Should Gallagher move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, he would be denied his preferred shirt number, however. The Epsom-born midfielder has donned the No.4 shirt since his move to Atletico and wore the same number in his most recent appearance for the England national team.
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But that number is currently occupied by Kevin Danso at Spurs, with the Austria international taking up that jersey since his initial loan move - and then £21m permanent transfer - from Lens last January.
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For the previous three years before his move to Atletico, Gallagher wore No.23 during his loan at Crystal Palace and then his time in the first team at Chelsea. Once again, that specific number is taken at Spurs.
Pedro Porro has donned 23 since he joined - first on loan and then permanently - Spurs from Sporting CP in January 2023.
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However, the number Gallagher wore in his loan spell at West Brom in the 2020/21 season is indeed still available. He took on the No.18 jersey during his time at the Hawthorns in the Covid-19-disrupted campaign.
Other shirt numbers Gallagher has worn in his senior club career are 33, 11 and 51. Unfortunately for him, 33 has been taken by Ben Davies since 2024, while 11 is Mathys Tel's shirt number.
But unsurprisingly, 51 is free and available, with Matthew Craig the last player to have that number in 2022/23. Milos Veljkovic, John Bostock and Adam Smith are the others to have worn that shirt in the past.
There are several more obvious shirt numbers available for Gallagher to take, with 2, 5, 12, 16, 22 and 25 free. 16 is a number that Gallagher has had on his back twice for England before, in 2022/23 and 2023/24.
The Atletico midfielder is poised to sign for Tottenham this week and could make his debut against West Ham on Saturday. Spurs then face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League before travelling to Burnley and Eintracht Frankfurt.