Following the confirmation of Kylian Mbappe’s transfer to Real Madrid, Sports Mole takes a look at which shirt numbers could be available to the Frenchman ahead of the 2024-25 season.
The Kylian Mbappe transfer saga is now officially over after the French superstar was announced as a new Real Madrid player on Monday evening.
Mbappe will depart Paris Saint-Germain after seven successful years upon the expiration of his contract on June 30 and will complete his dream move to Los Blancos on a free transfer, penning a five-year contract that includes a mouthwatering €100m (£85.2m) signing-on bonus.
The 25-year-old attacker is widely regarded as one of, if not the, best player in the world having scored an impressive 329 goals and registered 154 assists in a total of 442 career appearances for club and country.
Here, Sports Mole takes a look at which shirt numbers could be available to Mbappe at the Santiago Bernabeu ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
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Mbappe set to wear No.9 next season?
It has widely been reported that Real Madrid will hand Mbappe the No.9 shirt, which is currently vacant and was last worn by Karim Benzema in the 2022-23 campaign before he moved to Al Ittihad.
Mbappe has only previously worn the number nine shirt in his club career at Monaco during the 2016-17 season, while he also donned the No.29 shirt at both Monaco and PSG.
In recent seasons, the forward has become synonymous with the number seven shirt at club level with PSG and the number 10 shirt at international level with France, but neither of those squads numbers are currently available at Real Madrid.
Indeed, star winger Vinicius Junior is the current holder of the iconic No.7 shirt after changing from No.20 last summer, while the 10 jersey has been donned by veteran Luka Modric at Los Blancos for the past seven seasons.
Modric has allegedly agreed to sign a new one-year contract to stay at Real Madrid for the 2024-25 season, but should the 38-year-old midfielder depart next summer, that would open the door for Mbappe to swoop for the number 10 shirt.
Should Mbappe temporarily take the No.9 shirt next season, he will follow in the footsteps of Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo, who worn the same number for once season when he joined from Manchester United in 2009, before swapping to his famous No.7 the following campaign after the departure of another club icon, Raul.
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What other shirt numbers are available at Real Madrid?
One iconic shirt number that will soon become available it No.8, as Toni Kroos has announced that he will be leaving Real Madrid and retiring from football after representing Germany at Euro 2024 this summer.
However, it has already been confirmed that Federico Valverde is set to take Kroos’s 8 jersey, meaning the Uruguayan’s number 15 will become vacant for next season.
The next lowest number available is No.16 which was last worn by defender Alvaro Odriozola and striker Luka Jovic, while numbers 26 up to 31 are also up for grabs.
Teenage midfielder Nico Paz is the current bearer of the highest first-team squad number (32) and every other number above that is available for selection.