What shirt number will Jude Bellingham wear at Real Madrid?
JUDE BELLINGHAM has completed his £115million transfer to Real Madrid – but fans are itching to know what shirt number he could wear.
Madrid announced his arrival on Twitter with a picture of him in the club’s new shirt with a caption saying “Hey Jude” as a reference to the famous Beatles song.
And the most expensive British player of all time is expected to slot into a perfect midfield with the likes of Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchoumeni.
But whether he starts is not the question… it’s more about his shirt number.
However, SunSport may have figured out what the answer to that mystery will be.
What shirt number will Jude Bellingham wear at Real Madrid?
There is one shirt number Jude Bellingham is predicted to take for the mighty Los Blancos – 22.
Bellingham prefers Number 22 as it represents his ability to operate in four, eight and ten roles.
And ex-Birmingham head of youth Mike Dodds confirmed this by revealing that Bellingham’s eyes ‘lit up’ when he was offered that number.
Dodds told talkSport in 2021: ‘We think you’re doing yourself a disservice, we think you can do all of it.’ So we came up with, ‘We think you can be a 22.’
“His eyes lit up and we knew we had hooked him from then on in! We said we thought he could be a holding midfielder, or a four. We thought he could be a box-to-box [midfielder], which is an eight, and we thought he could be a scorer and a creator, so a 10.”
The only problem with this scenario is that the Number 22 shirt is currently being occupied Antonio Rudiger.
What other shirt numbers can Bellingham wear?
The England superstar has also been tipped to take number seven after Eden Hazard‘s contract was ripped up.
Luka Modric‘s future is in doubt so Bellingham could also secure the number ten shirt should it become available.
And Toni Kroos who wears the number eight shirt, is in the same predicament as Modric.
La Liga registration rules forbid senior played to wear 26 onwards which means that Bellingham will have to wear shirts between number one and 25.