Jude Bellingham’s unusual Real Madrid shirt number a nod to footballing legend

Jude Bellingham will wear the shirt Zinedine Zidane became a club legend in for Real Madrid.

The 19-year-old has been handed the No.5 after completing his £113million move from Borussia Dortmund. He was officially unveiled as a Los Blancos player with his new kit on Thursday morning (June 15).

That came after he successfully completed his medical and put pen to paper on a six-year deal believed to be worth £220,000-a-week, totalling nearly £70m.

Reporters gathered at the Valdebebas training ground to hear from Bellingham, who said: "Thank you everyone in the room and everyone watching online for joining me for the proudest day of my life.

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"The day where I join the greatest football club in the history of the game. Thank you very much. There's a lot of people to thank for getting me to this point. Borussia Dortmund, Birmingham City, the people that work there, but also the bosses here.

"Mr President, Juni Calafat, Jose Angel, and of course most importantly my family for all the support and making the deal as easy as possible. So thank you very much and finally, Hala Madrid."

Zidane won the Champions League, La Liga, Spanish Super Cup (twice), UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup with Real, as well as being voted UEFA Best Player in 2002 and FIFA's equivalent the following year.

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Bellingham will be hoping to emulate that success, especially since he narrowly missed out on the Bundesliga title with Dortmund last season as they were pipped by Bayern Munich on the final day.

Other iconic names who have worn Real's No.5 are Fernando Hierro, Fabio Cannavaro and Raphael Varane, with centre-back Jesus Vallejo sporting it since the latter's departure in 2021.

Bellingham was unable to opt for the number 22 which he's used during his club career to date as Antonio Rudiger currently wears it.

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