Eden Hazard Handed Famous Real Madrid Shirt Number as James Rodriguez Earns Place in Squad

​Real Madrid have confirmed the shirt numbers for their squad for the upcoming La Liga season, with new signings Eden Hazard, Ferland Mendy, Luka Jovic, Eder Militao and Rodrygo Goes all being handed new numbers.

Los Blancos have been incredibly active in this summer’s transfer window, but delayed revealing the shirt numbers of their new signings until they had a better idea of the layout of their squad.

Eden Hazard

Now, they have taken to their ​official website to confirm the numbers of all their players, with ​Hazard set to take the number seven shirt, despite earlier reports that he would choose 23 to mark his love for basketball.

Hazard’s preferred shirt number is ten, which is taken by ​Luka Modric, so he has instead been allocated seven, following in the footsteps of ​Real legends ​Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul.

The number 23 has been given to left-back Mendy, while fellow new arrivals Jovic and Militao will wear 18 and three respectively.

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Rodrygo, who completed his own long-awaited move to the Santiago Bernabeu this summer, has been handed the number 27 shirt.

Two notable inclusions on the list are ​James Rodriguez and ​Gareth Bale, both of whom have been heavily linked with moves away from the club this summer. 

Rodriguez will wear the number 16 shirt, while Bale will continue with his preferred 11, suggesting there is a place for both in Zinedine Zidane’s squad.

James Rodriguez

Other changes to last season’s numbers are Mariano Diaz (24), ​Thibaut Courtois (13) and Andriy Lunin (25).

Los Blancos will kick off their ​La Liga campaign with a trip to Celta Vigo on Saturday, 17 August, when all these squad numbers will be on show for the first time.

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