With yesterday’s announcement that Michael Owen is leaving Manchester United after the former-England striker wasn’t offered a new contract, the question every United fan is thinking about is this one:

‘Who will be the club’s new number 7?’

It was fair to say that Owen was probably one of the least deserving number 7’s that United have had and that he really only had 3 great moments wearing the prestigious shirt.

The first one that stands out is his last-minute winner at Old Trafford in the Manchester Derby that had Mark Hughes and everyone connected with Manchester City fuming. The second being his hat-trick against Wolfsburg in the Champions League with the last being his goal that levelled the scores in the 2010 Carling Cup against Aston Villa.

Of course it wasn’t Owen’s fault that he was injured as often as he was and that he never really had the chance to become a first-team regular at the club. He was unlucky in the fact that whenever he was fit and in the team doing well he would either be dropped in favour of Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov or Javier Hernandez or pick up an injury ruling him out for months.

So with Owen gone, who should be the new number 7? There are 2 candidates I feel.

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   1. Antonio Valencia
   2. Shinji Kagawa

Valencia is probably the player right now at United who would fit the shirt. He’s an exciting player to watch. There have been great wingers such as George Best, Steve Coppell, Andrei Kanchelkis, David Beckham and a certain Cristiano Ronaldo who have worn the 7 shirt and lived up to the pressure of wearing it.

Kagawa would be the other option if he joins. He is an outstanding play-maker who is well on the verge of rising to super-stardom after two fantastic years in the Bundesliga for Borussia Dortmund.

Wearing the illustrious number 7 shirt would be a great way to welcome Kagawa to the club, although there would be no doubt be allegations that giving him the shirt would be solely down to shirt-sales in the Far East. Never forget you cannot please everyone.

By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87