THE VITALS:

Team: Manchester United

Brand: Adidas

Era: 2019-20 (Used for the 2019-20 Premier League season)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: GOOD

This article does come quite worn and used and evidenced by the staining, wear to the sponsor and most notably the gold accents fading from the rubber crest, however, to use just to lounge in, play football or exercise in, this shirt may be in-fact be ideal.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Medium

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19 inches

Shirt Length: 28.5 inches 

Made by Adidas in their ‘ClimaLite’ style of shirts that they introduced in 2019; the dimensions lend themselves to relaxed size medium fitting shirt.  

DESCRIPTION:

After the experiment home shirt of 2018-19, Adidas returned to a more traditional Manchester United home shirt, that however, doesn’t mean that say that it wasn’t contemporary in its design. The shirt would be almost entirely red, with the Adidas 3-stripes just a shade darker, while black would be used to colour the Adidas embroidery for the first time. The stand out feature is no doubt the crest which had been placed in a shield; stylised in glorious black and gold! It should then come as no surprise this shirt pays homage to the treble winning season of 1998/99 – such was the use of the crest in the shield and also, the legendary 90+1 and 90+3 print on the sleeves which was of course the time in the game when they scored both goals in their legendary UEFA Champions League Final victory over Bayern Munich in 1999! In another easter egg, on the underside of the hem, the treble victory is paid direct homage to. This shirt would be synonymous with the coronavirus pandemic affected 2019-20 season and the arrival of Bruno Fernandes who helped the inspire the team to a 3^rd place league finish, as well semi-final appearances in all of the: Carabao Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Europa League in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first full season in charge!

THE SEASON:

Despite failing to win in each of their last 6 games of the season; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer still managed to secure a 6^th place finish for Manchester United, however, after the incredible start he had to life in the Old Trafford, the finish was somewhat disappointing, however, the enthusiasm of what he could deliver with a full pre-season and his own signings ensured that there was a lot more optimism heading into the new season than there was 12 months ago.

The close season saw the inevitable departures of: Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Chris Smalling finally materialise, while Ander Herrera and Antonio Valencia left on free transfers at the end of their contracts. Fans would be treated to a summer of big spending as: Daniel James, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire were all signed – the latter for a world record fee for a defender!

The 2019/20 Premier League campaign could not have started better as they blew Chelsea away 4-0 at Old Trafford on the opening day of the season! That victory would be the high point as the inconsistency that reared its head from the spring of 2019 once again took centre stage until December with United winning just 4 of their opening 14 games. Back to back wins over Tottenham Hotspur and then Manchester City saw a brief upsurge in form as they won 4/6 of the hectic December period to end the decade of the 2010’s in 5^th place.

2020 began with a 2-0 defeat away against Arsenal and then defeats would soon follow against Liverpool and Burnley to wrap up a difficult January. Bruno Fernandes’ signature in the January transfer window would signal a significant change of fortunes winning 3 of their next 5 games which included wins over both Chelsea and Manchester City – which was a Premier League first for the club! With the season forced to adjourn in March due to the coronavirus pandemic; United would again find themselves in 5^th place, this time after 29 games.

United’s first ever trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 19^th June 2020 took part on the historic first day of ‘Project Restart’, where the two sides battled to a 1-1 draw. From there, United would become the team of the ‘Project Restart’ end to the season where 5 wins in their next 7 games saw them jump into 3^rd place, and then the icing on the cake was a fine 2-0 win over Leicester City to end the season on a 14 match unbeaten run and more importantly, in 3^rd place and secure a return of Champions League football in 2020/21!

In the domestic cup competitions, Manchester United performed admirably; however, falling short in the semi-finals in both competitions. The Carabao cup saw Chelsea eliminated along the way, before being stopped by Manchester City 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-final.

The FA Cup began with needing a replay to see off Wolverhampton Wanderers – who eliminated them in the tournament the previous season, and then wins over: Tranmere Rovers, Derby County and then Norwich City, set up a semi-final versus Chelsea; however, a heavily altered first xi would lose in their fourth outing against Frank Lampard’s side.

A first UEFA Europa League entry since winning the title in 2016-17 began with cruising through the Group Stage’s before overcoming Club Brugge 6-1 on aggregate in the Round of 32. They would meet LASK in the 1^st Leg of their Round of 16 affair in an empty stadium where they prevailed 5-0 away from home. They would have to wait until August 2020 to resume the competition where a 2-1 win in the 2^nd Leg saw United reach the quarter final in the single leg format held in Germany. United would need extra time to see off FC Copenhagen in the quarter final to set up a tie with Sevilla with the winner reaching the final on 16^th August. United would take the lead early, however, Sevilla would rally to claim a 2-1 win to condemn United a third semi-final exit this season.

The notable players that season were:

Odion Ighalo, Mason Greenwood, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Bruno Fernandes, Daniel James, Juan Mata, Ander Herrera, Fred, Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini, Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Ashley Young, Diego Dalot, David de Gea, Sergio Romero, Lee Grant