Real Madrid has decided to give Kylian Mbappe a new number, just a year after arrival in the Santiago Bernabeu. The Frenchman and the club are both enthusiastic about the switch for the Frenchman.
The original plan When Mbappe arrived, was to hand him the number 10 shirt last summer, but Luka Modric renewed his deal, somewhat unexpected, and retained the number, however. ESPN says that Mbappe was willing to spend another season with number 9, Modric was to have stayed.
There were not many candidates for the song this summer, and the Mbappe switch will be part of their marketing strategy, the iconic number 10 is normally the best selling. Mbappe also bears number 10 for the national side of France, and the decision came as much from the club as from Mbappe.
The alternative options would have been Arda Guler at the age of 20 and without a guaranteed starting place, or perhaps Franco Mastantuono, which will arrive in August. The 18-year-old will not have a shortage of pressure on him while adapting to a new continent after a € 63 million. Rodrygo Goes, who wears the number 11, seems to be on his way to the club.
It can very well be a boost for Mbappe to leave behind last season. Although he ended up like the Pichichi and performed well in the second half of the season, the situation of Los Blancos made it a first campaign with a shortage of joy. Mbappe and Vinicius Junior also remain in the eye of the storm about the concern about their working speed.
It would leave a vacancy at number nine place, and without a sign that a center-forward is coming through the door, that will be a different discussion. The obvious candidates to wear the number 9 would be Gonzalo Garcia Torres or Endrick Felipe, but neither of them has the usual star power of a typical Real Madrid number 9 in this stage in their career.