Our 125th year anniversary kit with the commemorative crest and return of the famous red numbers has been a hit with supporters this summer, and it has now been revealed which player names have been the most popular on the back of fan’s shirts.
The top 30 most popular names on the back of fan’s Premier League shirts in the UK has been revealed by leading sports merchandise retailer Sports Direct, seeing THREE past and present Mags make the list:
1. Paul POGBA (Manchester United)
2. Romelu LUKAKU (Manchester United)
3. Eden HAZARD (Chelsea)
4. Alexandre LACAZETTE (Arsenal)
5. Marcus RASHFORD (Manchester United)
6. Harry KANE (Tottenham)
7. Sadio MANE (Liverpool)
8. Lionel MESSI (Barcelona)
9. Philippe COUTINHO (Liverpool)
10. Zlatan IBRAHIMOVIC (Manchester United)
11. DELE Alli (Tottenham)
12. Roberto FIRMINO (Liverpool)
13. Matt RITCHIE (Newcastle)
14. ANDER HERRERA (Manchester United)
15. Cristiano RONALDO (Real Madrid)
16. Henrikh MKHITARYAN (Manchester United)
17. Dwight GAYLE (Newcastle United)
18. NEYMAR JR. (Barcelona/PSG)
19. N’Golo KANTE (Chelsea)
20. Mesut OZIL (Arsenal)
21. John TERRY (Chelsea/Aston Villa)
22. ALEXIS Sanchez (Arsenal)
23. Mohamed SALAH (Liverpool)
24. Wayne ROONEY (Manchester United)
25. Juan MATA (Manchester United)
26. Adam LALLANA (Liverpool)
27. Alvaro MORATA (Chelsea)
28. David DE GEA (Manchester United)
29. Cheick TIOTE (Newcastle United)
30. Christian ERIKSEN (Tottenham)
In 13th place, the most popular Newcastle man is Matt Ritchie, showing how quickly the Geordie faithful have taken to a man who arrived just last summer. He epitomises just about everything we love in a player at St. James’ Park and it is no surprise to see how popular he has been with fans this summer.
Then comes Dwight Gayle who was the 2nd most popular name to be printed, with his 23 goal haul last season making him an instant hit with fans, however it must be said that it’s a good job he didn’t make a deadline day move to Fulham, or there’d be quite a few fans reluctantly left with the number 9 on their backs!
Finally comes the late, great Cheick Tiote – the 29th most popular shirt sale. As we all know, the Ivorian suddenly passed away earlier this summer whilst training in China, and his name is now printed on the back of so many of the Toon Army, paying tribute to a man who served our club for seven years.
