The Frenchman’s transfer to Real Madrid was officially finalised on Monday, capping one of the longest transfer sagas in contemporary sports history. It occurs after the 2018 World Cup winner chooses to play at Santiago Bernabeu, realising a childhood dream, over agreeing to sign a one-year contract extension with Paris Saint-Germain.

Fabrizio Romano predicts that the Frenchman will wear shirt number nine, even if he personally likes number 10. However, there’s a clever rationale for why he won’t be performing in 2024–2025, his favourite number.

Kylian Mbappe won’t be wearing the No 10 shirt at Real Madrid like he does for France, with the Frenchman instead expected to take up the No 9

There is a classy reason why Mbappe won’t take the No 10 at his new club in his first season

The shirt is currently worn by Luka Modric who will stay at Real Madrid for atleast another yearIt’s claimed that Mbappe and his camp didn’t ask Real Madrid to get the No 10 shirt, due to his respect for Luka Modric.Modric has been the No 10 at Real Madrid since the 2017-18 season, after it had previously been worn by James Rodriguez and Mesut Ozil during his first five seasons at the club.

Until 2017, he had been wearing the No 19 shirt.  The Croatian midfielder, now 38, was set to be out of contract this summer, before he signed a new one-year contract on a lower salary.Modric has accepted more of a secondary role at the club this season, but has opted to remain at the club, unlike Toni Kroos who will retire after this summer’s European Championship.

Mbappe therefore could wait for the No 10 shirt when it becomes available, as Modric approaches the end of his career. However, by wearing the No 9 he would follow in the footsteps of some iconic players to have graced the Santiago Bernabeu.

The most recent player to wear the shirt, is his former French international team-mate Karim Benzema – who represented the number for 13 years between 2010 and 2013. Before that, Cristiano Ronaldo wore the shirt during his first season at the club.

Karim Benzema was the last player to wear the No 9 at Madrid, before leaving last summer

When Cristiano Ronaldo first joined Real Madrid, he briefly wore the No. 9 jersey. However, a year later, when club star Raul left the team, he switched to his favourite No. 7.

The Portuguese player, who is currently at Al-Nassr, is in a similar predicament to Mbappe, having chosen not to wear his favourite No. 7 shirt out of respect for Real Madrid great Raul.

The Spanish striker’s departure in 2010 gave Ronaldo the chance to assume the No. 7 position. The No. 9 at Madrid has also been worn by Hugo Sanchez, Alfredo Di Stefano, Luis Enrique, the former coach of Mbappe at PSG, and the legendary Ronaldo Nazario of Brazil.

Even though Mbappe plays for France, he hasn’t worn the No. 10 jersey for a club since making his lone and only appearance for Monaco in the 2017–18 campaign, which was prior to his loan move to PSG.

At Paris Saint-Germain, Mbappe was ranked No. 7, with Neymar and Ousmane Dembele occupying the No. 10 spots.

At Paris Saint-Germain, Mbappe wore shirt number seven because Neymar had already claimed number ten.

It was then picked up by Mbappe’s French international teammate Ousmane Dembele when Neymar left the squad in the summer of last year.

Vinicius Jr., who is favoured to win the upcoming Ballon d’Or after leading Real Madrid to their 15th Champions League championship on Saturday, is now wearing the No. 7 shirt for Real Madrid.