By Howard Nurse BBC Sport Online

One of football's most famous shirts could be left hanging up in the dressing room when the new Premiership season kicks off on 17 August.

Manchester United have yet to allocate the number nine shirt at Old Trafford following Andy Cole's departure to Blackburn Rovers last season.

The Red Devils have not signed a new striker over the summer - their only new faces being record �29.3m buy Rio Ferdinand and young keeper Luke Steele, a �500,000 purchase from Peterborough.

So could it be that manager Sir Alex Ferguson is planning one last raid in the transfer market before the big kick-off?

That appeared uncertain after chief executive Peter Kenyon claimed "we're not looking for new players" after the swoop for Rio Ferdinand.

He said: "We've concentrated on what we thought was our single number one target and that was Rio.

"There's a limit to the squad size you can have. Top players want to play football, they don't want to sit on benches."

But after Dwight Yorke's transfer to Blackburn Rovers, Ferguson may yet pursuade the club's directors to loosen the purse strings again.

It is unlikely that any of the established players will change to the number nine shirt and none of the up-and-coming players are yet worthy holders.

Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan - yet to establish himself at the Theatre of Dreams - was allocated the number 21 shirt after joining the club from Argentine side Independiente.