Zinedine Zidane suggests to Lionel Messi long-standing rule may be why Jude Bellingham has shirt number
Jude Bellingham’s decision to ditch his career-long no.22 shirt at Real Madrid may have come down to surprise pressure from above.
The England superstar rocked up at the Bernabeu in the summer in a £114million move from Borussia Dortmund and has had a flying start.
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The biggest change from his remarkable stint in Germany has been his newly-discovered goalscoring form, netting 13 in 14 games, one less than his season-best total.
Before all that, though, there was another significant change, with the 20-year-old taking a new shirt number.
Bellingham had become synonymous with the no.22, a shirt boyhood side Birmingham retired in 2020 when he left for Germany.
The midfielder was given the number as the Blues academy staff said it summed up his ability to play as a no.4, no.10, and no.8, so there was some surprise when he ditched it for the no.5 at Real Madrid.
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Now, Zinedine Zidane, who wore no.5 with distinction, has explained how he was pressured into it at Madrid.
In a fascinating conversation with Lionel Messi where, among other subjects, they discussed the no.10 position and its disappearance, Zidane said: “I liked the number five, I liked everything about it, but what matters in the end is what you do on the field.”
Messi replied: ”You made the number five important.”
Zidane then explained why and how, saying: “It was kind of weird to see someone else with the number five, seeing a central midfielder with the number five was weird.
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“But do you know how that happened? Florentino, the president, didn't like players wearing high numbers like 25, 30, 35, he was from the old school.
“The number one for the goalkeeper and then up to number 11, that’s it.
“[Former Real player Manolo] Sanchis had the number five and played in defence. He left and when I got there the president told me ‘wouldn't you like to have a number from one to ten?
“I said yes and picked the number five shirt because he didn’t want me to have 25, 30, 35. He said ‘this is not football, this is American football’ so in the end I got five.
“He said ‘please’ and I thought ‘it’s my first day, I will say yes’ but in the end the number five for me is now strong because it’s history with me, with Madrid, the number 10 but the number five too. I don’t remember much about the number 21 with Juve.”
Bellingham explained on his arrival in Madrid that Zidane was his inspiration for taking the no.5, but it could well be that Perez hasn’t yet given up on one of his surprise footballing hates.
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