Jude Bellingham Takes on Zinedine Zidane’s No.5 Shirt at Real Madrid
Jude Bellingham has made a historic move by taking on Zinedine Zidane’s famous no.5 shirt upon his unveiling as a Real Madrid player. The England superstar completed an £88.5million British record transfer from Borussia Dortmund that could rise to £115m in a potentially era-defining move.
Bellingham has some big shoes to fill with that number, but he is someone who will take it in his stride. The no.22 is Bellingham’s usual for Dortmund, Madrid, and Birmingham. This shirt was worn by the legendary Zidane, and among the anticipation of the Galactico signing was what shirt number he would take, with his normal no.22 occupied by former Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger.
Instead of a swap, Bellingham has instead gone for one of the club’s most historic shirts, that of all-time great midfielder Zidane. President Florentio Perez, addressing the teenager, said: “Thank you for coming, and welcome home.”
Asked why he chose Real over potentially more money elsewhere, Bellingham said: “Money’s not a thing for me, I don’t think about money at all when I make these decisions, I never have and I never will, I play the game purely out of love.”
Bellingham wore the no.22 for Dortmund, Birmingham, and also England at the World Cup, but has now switched to no.5. Explaining why such an unorthodox number became a trademark, talkSPORT spoke to Birmingham’s head of development Mike Dodds in 2021.
“He would have been about 13 or 14 and like most boys that age, they want to be a no.10,” Dodds explained. “And I remember, we sat down with him and we said, ‘we think you’re doing yourself a disservice, we think you can do all of it’ [play as a 10, 8 and 4].”
Dodds continued, “So we came up with, ‘we think you can be a 22’. His eyes lit up and we knew 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, which is an eight. And we thought he could be a scorer and a creator, so a 10. And from the age of 13 onwards he has held on to that all the way through and you can see that in his game.”
Former Madrid stars to wear the no.5 include Raphael Varane, Fabio Coentrao, and Ballon d’Or winner Fabio Cannavaro. More will follow.
In conclusion, Jude Bellingham has made a bold move by taking on Zinedine Zidane’s famous no.5 shirt upon his unveiling as a Real Madrid player. The England superstar completed an £88.5million British record transfer from Borussia Dortmund that could rise to £115m in a potentially era-defining move. Bellingham has some big shoes to fill with that number, but he is someone who will take it in his stride.