Borussia Dortmund has confirmed the transfer of their star man Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid.

The English midfielder arrives the club on a six-year contract and will be placed on a salary of around €10m per season.

According to reports, Real Madrid will pay in excess of €100million to Dortmund for the 19-year-old midfielder. No play has commanded such a transfer fee at this age, showing the talent at his disposal.

So, what jersey number will Bellingham wear at Real Madrid?

Jude Bellingham has always worn the No. 22 jersey, starting from his days as Birmingham City youth player, at age 13.

Bellingham prefers the No. 22 because it represents his ability to operate in a number of midfield roles.

Speaking to UK radio station TalkSPORT in 2021, former Birmingham head of youth Mike Dodds explained how it all started: “He would have been about 13 or 14 and like most boys that age, they want to be a number 10. And I remember, we sat down with him and we said, ‘We think you’re doing yourself a disservice, we think you can do all of it.’ So we came up with, ‘We think you can be a 22.’

“His eyes lit up and we knew we had hooked him from then on in! We said we thought he could be a holding midfielder, or a four. We thought he could be a box-to-box [midfielder], which is an eight, and we thought he could be a scorer and a creator, so a 10. And from the age of 13 onwards he has held on to that all the way through and you can see that in his game.”

Will Rudiger agree to hand over the No. 22 to Jude Bellingham?