Man Utd club shop bans supporters from printing names of legendary trio on back of shirts due to key licensing issue

Reported by Manchester Evening News, the three players in question are legendary No. 7s Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Eric Cantona. United do not own the trademark to any of the trio of former players' names, which means they are not licensed to print them on the back of shirts.

The report states that this has been the case for several years and not just at United, as Real Madrid do not have the rights to print the legendary Ronaldo's name either, despite his status as one of the club's greatest-ever players.

With this in mind, the recent craze around retro football shirts makes sense as it gives fans the chance to sport the names of their favourite players from the past on their backs, on shirts which were printed at a time when the player in question was at the club. In the case of Ronaldo, Beckham and Cantona, these shirts must be very rare to find indeed.

United fans expressed their confusion at the licensing rule on social media.

One fan said on X: "That's really weird." 

"Modern football just gets weirder," another added.

A third said: "What if I call my son Beckham and he wants his own name on his shirt?"

Another stated: "How can you copyright a name lol I'm pretty sure there's more people with those names."

The Red Devils face Everton and Fiorentina in their final pair of pre-season fixtures before Mikel Arteta's Arsenal visit Old Trafford on August 17. Ruben Amorim's side will be looking for a major improvement on their unprecedented struggles last campaign and may look to complete further transfer business before the campaign gets underway.