There are several key and star players in world football who are not assigned the numbers that correlate with the position that they play on the pitch.
Most of the time, these players are either recent additions to the team during a particular transfer window.
This means that their preferred number was unavailable as it was assigned to another player or a young player who quickly rose up into prominence within a season or two and has cemented his place in the starting lineup.
Thus having to stay contented with a double-digit number until his preferred shirt number becomes available.
Most of these cases see players take squad numbers outside the usual starting 11.
Today, you will find out the popular football players who wear the number 24 jersey.
1. Reiss Nelson (Arsenal)
23 years-old Reiss Nelson has only played eight Premier League games that have scored three goals and two assists in the Premier League for the Gunners this season, but his biggest was the 97th-minute winner against Bournemouth in April.
He is definitely not a regular in the starting lineup, but the few times he has been called up, he has made his presence felt.
His contract is already up for debate, but the end result is to be seen. The number at Arsenal was prominently won by Abou Diaby and Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone.
2. Mariano Diaz (Real Madrid)
Mariano Diaz is not the most popular player in Madrid, and maybe that is why he has the number 24 shirt at Real Madrid to himself.
He’s only played at three different clubs, Badalona, Lyon, and Real Madrid, where he currently spends his second stint.
Between 2016 and 2017, when he had his first stint, he had just one goal from eight games before going to Lyon, where he spent a year and a better return.
However, since returning to Santiago Bernabeu in 2018, he has only scored six in over 50 appearances.
This season alone, he’s yet to find the back of the net in all competitions.
3. Eric Garcia (Barcelona)
Barcelona’s 22-year-old defender Eric Garcia is a part of the list; he’s one of the highly-rated young defenders of the game.
He’s played 20 games in the Blaugrana’s race to the La Liga title.
However, he’s on his second stint at the club after leaving to move to the Premier League with Manchester City but left in the summer of 2021.
He’s won the Premier League, EFL Cup, and the Spanish Super Cup, with a La Liga already looking assured.
4. Thomas Meunier (Borussia Dortmund)
Thomas is a 31-year-old Belgian defender who currently is with the Yellow and Blacks of Borussia.
He’s not exactly a regular but is quite dependable when called upon.
His irregularity, especially this season, is due to his injury problems, having missed Dortmund’s last six games due to injury.
5. Reece James (Chelsea)
Reece James is considered one of the best right-backs in the world at the moment. He’s been donning the number 24 shirt since the 2019/20 season.
Reece James had a lot of Chelsea fans raising their hopes and expectations for what he could become in the future after making his senior team debut in 2018, but five years later, the England international continued to hop in and out of the main team.
Injuries haven’t been gentle with the fullback who missed the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Nevertheless, he’s played sixteen Premier League games and eight UEFA Champions League matches as well.
6. Papu Gomez (Sevilla)
Alejandro Darío Gómez is perhaps the oldest player on the list at 35, but the defender still features for Sevilla after joining in 2021 from Atalanta.
He has only played seventeen times for the Argentine national team but still managed to be part of the team that won the last World Cup.
7. Serge Aurier (Nottingham Forest)
Slowly becoming a journeyman that has left Spurs, gone to Villarreal in Spain, and then returned to the Premier League with Nottingham Forest, all in the last six years.
The Ivorian defender was part of the numerous signings that Forest made when they returned to the Premier League last summer and has managed twenty Premier League appearances.
Aurier wore the number 24 for four years at Tottenham Hotspur, then now at Nottingham Forest.
8. Simon Kjaer (AC Milan)
Danish defender Simp Kjear has been with AC Milan since 2020, when he initially joined on loan from Sevilla.
Since then, he has made more than seventy appearances and even won the Seria A with the club, and this season alone, he has fourteen league appearances to his name.
The hard-tackling centre-back has been wearing the number 24 shirt for four years at AC Milan.
9. Andre Onana (Inter Milan)
This is one soccer player who loves wearing the number 24 shirt.
Andre Onana wore the number 24 shirt for most of his time at Ajax, and his current squad number is 24 and he has been wearing it since he joined Inter Milan on July 1, 2022.
Andre Onana is considered one of the best goalkeepers in Africa presently, which is deserved, although recent years haven’t been the easiest and smoothest for the Cameroonian.
From being banned for six months while at Ajax for a banned substance to moving to Inter Milan, where he had rocky performances that never stopped, even during the AFCON Cameroon hosted in 2022, it didn’t end there.
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Onana was sent home by the national team coach even before the final match, where they were eventually dropped out despite beating Brazil.
10. Miguel Almiron (Newcastle)
Miguel Almiron has been with Newcastle United since 2019, but his most productive season is the current season, where he has eleven goals, and one assists in 29 Premier League matches.
He has helped them towards achieving a UEFA Champions League spot with his goals and assists.
He joined Newcastle United from Atlanta United in the MLS in 2019.
The Paraguayan has sported the number 24 shirt since he arrived at the club.
Things to know about the number 24 shirt in soccer
At the national level, the number 24 is usually not assigned due to competition rules most of the time. However, for England, Reece James wore the number in 2021, and he will most likely retain it if he’s called up next time.
For Brazil, that number is avoided due to some it traditionally associated with being gay. In fact, the number 24 was never worn by a Brazilian at the World Cup until in Qatar last year when Gleison Bremer went onto the pitch with it against Cameroon in the final group game.
Some notable footballers who wore the number 24 jersey are Lorenzo Insigne, who donned it for Napoli during his time there. Claude Makélélé at Real Madrid, Héctor Bellerín at Arsenal, and Gary Cahill at Chelsea.
