Tottenham: Shirt numbers for Joao Palhinha and Radu Dragusin confirmed as superstition is explained | OneFootball

Tottenham have made a double shirt number announcement after signing Joao Palhinha

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Palhinha made the move to Bayern last summer but was restricted to just six Bundesliga starts during the 2024-25 season as a mix of injuries and strong competition for places prevented him from becoming a regular under Vincent Kompany.

Ironically the 30-year-old could make his Tottenham debut against his parent club on Thursday as the two sides meet in Germany for a pre-season friendly.

Should Palhinha feature he will don No6 on the back of his Spurs shirt after electing to take the vacant squad number following Radu Dragusin’s decision to switch to No3 ahead of the new season.

Palhinha wore No16 at Bayern after wearing No26 at Fulham. In fact, throughout his career he was always chosen a number with a six whether that be for club or country and there is a reason why it is so important to him.

He said: “I try to choose always a number with a six – sometimes it’s not available but since I started my career, it was a number that I’ve had with me because of my family.

“It means a lot for me because of my grandfather… it’s the day that he left our family and since my grandfather died, if I have a look, a lot of important things in my life have happened on this day, with the number six.

“I can remember my first goal... everything that has been important in my career – not just the career, but in other things as well – most of the days have the number six.

“I’m a bit superstitious and I believe always that this number has an important meaning for me and my family and this is why I want to keep, if possible, the number with me on the shirt.”

As mentioned above, No6 at Spurs had previously been in possession of Dragusin prior to his switch. Meanwhile, previous owners of this particular shirt number include Davinson Sanchez, Nabil Bentaleb, Tom Huddlestone and Chris Perry.

Dragusin has taken the No3 shirt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium which had become vacant at the beginning of the month after Sergio Reguilon left on a free transfer. As a result, the central defender now wears the same shirt number for club and country.

He said: “I feel like this number represents me. I have been wearing it in the national team since three years ago and I just feel it really represents who I am – someone who is always ready to give everything for the team.

“Now, I’m really proud to wear it in north London.”