5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Kylian Mbappe handed Real Madrid No 10 shirt following Luka Modric departure
Kylian Mbappe will wear the No 10 shirt for Real Madrid next season after choosing to switch from the No 9 he wore in his debut campaign.
Mbappe all but confirmed the change on social media on Wednesday, tweeting simply: '10'.
Madrid's No 10 shirt is vacant for the first time since 2017 following Luka Modric's departure from the club earlier this summer.
Advertisement
Sources close to the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, said the La Liga side had a policy of giving players preference for squad numbers based on their experience with the club.
The club, though, has the final say, and Mbappe has been given the No. 10, despite interest from team-mates who have been with Madrid longer, because of his significance as a player.
10
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) July 23, 2025
Mbappe also wears the No 10 shirt for France, having worn No 29 – for Monaco and in his first season at Paris Saint-Germain – and the No 7 at PSG from 2018 onwards.
Former Real Madrid No 10s include James Rodriguez, Mesut Ozil, Wesley Sneijder, Luis Figo and Clarence Seedorf.
Cristiano Ronaldo also changed his shirt number early into his Madrid career. Like Mbappe, the Portugal international wore the No 9 after joining the club from Manchester United in the summer of 2009. He inherited Raul's No 7 shirt from the 2010/11 season onwards.
In his debut season at the Santiago Bernabeu, Mbappe scored 44 goals and provided five assists in 59 games.
Real Madrid's first game of the 2025/26 La Liga season is against Osasuna on August 19.
By Guillermo Rai
There are plenty of iconic shirt numbers at Real Madrid, some more than others.
The most prestigious one is probably No 7, as it has been worn by club legends including Emilio Butragueno, Raul and Cristiano Ronaldo – Mbappe's childhood idol.
But after that, the No 10 holds special significance, having been worn for the past seven seasons by Luka Modric. Apart from the Croatia midfielder, some of the illustrious names to have worn that number in the past include Luis Figo, Clarence Seedorf, Mesut Ozil, Michael Laudrup and Ferenc Puskas.
Mbappe has a personal story with it too. In the comic book he released about his life, one scene showed the Frenchman as a child unboxing a Real Madrid shirt for Christmas with the No 10 on the back.
Advertisement
With the No 7 occupied by Vinicius Junior, Mbappe will wear the same number he does for the French national team.
'A special number is offered to a very special player,' is how club sources have described the move.
It also follows the announcement a week ago that Lamine Yamal would take the No 10 shirt so closely associated with Lionel Messi for Barcelona. Senior sources at Madrid expect Mbappe's change of shirt to have a positive commercial impact.
