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09th Feb 2017

Jordan Ayew’s Swansea City squad number will cause you mild distress

That's... not how... squad numbers... are... supposed to... work...

Darragh Murphy

What the hell is going on?

Why are footballers insisting on ruining supporters’ lives by choosing completely inappropriate squad numbers?

Midfielder Jonathan De Guzman bizarrely chose the number 1 shirt when he moved to Chievo. Morgan Schneiderlin is currently sporting the number 2 jersey for Everton. Sheffield Wednesday, as a club, went bonkers with their squad list for the start of the season.

And Jordan Ayew, the Ghana international who has just signed for Swansea City, has joined the exclusive club of players that are wrecking fans’ heads.

Ayew is a forward, which makes his decision to sport the number three shirt all the more bizarre, given that 3 is typically reserved for a defender.

To be fair, Ayew didn’t have much choice as the squad numbers at Swansea were pretty much all taken. The 25-year-old seemingly had no choice but to take the number of Neil Taylor, who moved to Aston Villa as part of the deal for Ayew.

“It’s not uncommon for me. I wore it in France when I was on loan at Sochaux,” said Ayew.

“Now I will wear it here, although I didn’t have much of a choice in numbers. But the number is not a problem – it’s more important to be on the pitch and in good shape.”

Not that his explanation helped the football purists come to terms with the unveiling.

https://twitter.com/stighefootball/status/829732368126713856

https://twitter.com/YouJackBaston/status/829678127139930114