Aside from being substituted after already entering contention as a substitute, there are few indignities more keenly felt in football than seeing your designated shirt number handed over to a new signing.
Raheem Sterling was the target of the same snub last week after Chelsea stripped the England winger of his No. 7 shirt and exiled him from the first-team squad in favour of Pedro Neto, who was signed from Wolves.
Sterling is not the first player to face such humiliation and he likely won't be the last, although given the perceived severity and potential ego-damaging ramifications of an experienced player being subjected to such a professional slight, it is not a phenomenon that tends to arise with regularity at the highest levels of the game.
Below are some more notable examples that have taken place in recent years, along with a slightly more in-depth analysis of Sterling's difficult exit from Stamford Bridge last month.
Raheem Sterling
Sterling, who had already worn the number 7 at Manchester City for seven seasons, was unable to take his first-choice number to Chelsea because N'Golo Kanté was already on the bench. However, after Kanté left for Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2023, the Blues' number 7 shirt was handed over to Sterling, who wore it for one season at the Bridge.
Unfortunately, a loss of form saw Sterling lose control of the shirt at the end of August after it was revealed that the 29-year-old England international had been left out of new manager Enzo Maresca's plans for the 2024-25 campaign.
With the transfer deadline approaching and a crisis-ridden season ahead, Sterling was finally able to salvage the situation by securing a late loan move to London rivals Arsenal on deadline day, although the Gunners were understandably unwilling to let Sterling take over their No.7 shirt from Bukayo Saka, so the No.10 will have to do for the time being.
Edinson Cavani
Cavani suffered the misfortune of having to give up his No.7 shirt at Manchester United when a certain Cristiano Ronaldo returned to his former stomping ground in August 2021, thus reclaiming the number he had previously worn for the club over a decade earlier.
With the CR7 brand to uphold, Ronaldo adopted his usual United number 7 shirt after Cavani agreed to step aside and instead take up the vacant number 21 (previously worn by Daniel James). This is despite Cavani having already worn the number 7 on the pitch at the start of the season, just prior to Ronaldo's prodigal return.
Trevoh Chalobah
Sterling was not the only Chelsea player to have his first-team credentials revoked by the club in August; Chalobah had his No.14 stripped away to give it to new signing João Félix, who returned to the club permanently after a six-month loan in 2023.
Chalobah represented the Blues since his childhood and has been a regular presence in the first team for several years. However, a relatively ambitious transfer valuation meant the centre-back failed to attract potential suitors over the summer and was instead demoted and relegated to a season in the development squad.
However, like Sterling, Chalobah was fortunate to get a break (albeit only temporary) just before the deadline passed, joining Crystal Palace on a season-long loan.
Victor Osimhen
After leading Napoli's attack in its historic Shield After a title-winning season and establishing himself as one of the most prolific and in-demand strikers in European football, it was naturally assumed that a host of big names would be lining up to sign the Nigerian international this summer.
The opposite happened, as big-money transfer proposals to Al Ahli and Chelsea fell through, a turn of events that led to Napoli making the difficult decision to leave Osimhen out of their Serie A squad, with the relationship between the two parties described as “broken”.
Just to rub it in your face, the Parthenopeia They then went and gave their title-winning hero's No.9 shirt to new signing Romelu Lukaku, who will wear it for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.
With the transfer window now closed in Europe's top leagues, Osimhen is set to join Turkish club Galatasaray on loan.
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Antonio Martial
Things have rarely been easy for Martial at Manchester United, with the striker struggling to maintain form and/or fitness for any truly convincing period of time.
His fragile confidence must surely have taken a significant hit in the summer of 2016 when, after scoring just 11 league goals for the Premier League side, 20-year-old Martial was forced to step aside to make way for a veteran of the European football scene.
Sure enough, United had just secured the signature of Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain with the cocky Swede announcing his own arrival by posting a large image of his new No.9 shirt on social media.
Zlatan played a pivotal role in United's run to the Europa League final and finished as the club's top scorer in the Premier League with 17 goals, and racked up 28 goals in all competitions. By way of comparison, Martial contributed just four league goals, while he was regularly in and out of Jose Mourinho's starting XI throughout the campaign.
Memphis Depay
Having failed to fully convince skeptics during his brief and indistinct stint as Barcelona's central striker, Memphis was relegated to the back burner when veteran Polish striker and two-time European Golden Boot winner Robert Lewandowski arrived from Bayern Munich ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Depay had been wearing the No.9 shirt for Barca but it was decided that Lewandowski should automatically be handed the mantle after being installed as the Catalan's new attacking talisman, while his new Dutch colleague was demoted to No.14 before transferring to Atletico Madrid just six months later.
Gareth Bale
After falling out of favour at Real Madrid, Bale was allowed to finish his involvement with Wales at Euro 2020 before returning to his former club Tottenham Hotspur on loan for the 2020-21 season.
In his absence, The whites wasted no time in stripping Bale of his No. 11 shirt at the Bernabeu and handing it to emerging talent Marco Asensio and, later, Brazilian winger Rodrygo, starting in the 2023-24 season following Asensio's transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.
Bale was assigned the number 18 shirt at Real Madrid in absentia, though he never got to properly pull it on after making a few brief appearances for the Spanish giants upon his return for the 2021-22 campaign. He then eventually retired and headed to MLS with LAFC for one final farewell before his retirement.
