France Captain Kylian Mbappe has been handed a new number for his debut season at Real Madrid.
Mbappe secured a dream move to Real Madrid following the expiration of his contract at Paris Saint-Germain.
The French superstar is set to follow in the footsteps of legends Alfredo Di Stefano, Ronaldo Nazario, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to don Los Blancos’ No.9 shirt. Mbappe takes the shirt number that has been vacant since Benzema’s departure from the Bernabeu in 2023.
Mbappe has worn the shirt number just once before in his career, during the French National Cup for Monaco in 2017. Radamel Falcao wore the shirt for most of that season for the Ligue 1 side.
The 25-year-old has previously worn seven, 14, 17 and 29 for PSG and 11, 29, 13, 33 and 39 for Monaco. For the France national team, Mbappe has been the owner of the No.10 shirt on the international stage since 2017/18 and otherwise wore 12 and 20.
Real have also made some alterations to the shirt numbers in the squad. Eduardo Camavinga takes on six after Nacho Fernandez’s departure from the club, while Federico Valverde takes on Toni Kroos’ eight following the German star’s retirement following Euro 2024.
Aurelian Tchouameni will now wear 14, following Joselu’s time in the top last season. The number has also been worn by Casemiro, Xabi Alonso and Guti.
Jesus Vallejo takes on Tchouameni’s previous shirt, 18. Turkish youngster Arda Guler claims 15 after owning 24 last season.
Real Madrid have announced that Mbappe will be presented as a Les Merengues player for the first time next week, after France were knocked out of Euro 2024 by Spain on Tuesday.
