Hazard will follow the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul.
Real Madrid announce Eden Hazard will wear number 7, the club confirmed on their website.
Eden Hazard arrived at Real Madrid earlier this summer as the club’s first ‘Galactico’ signing of quite some time. But, he didn’t exactly make a dream start.
Reports from Spain suggest that he arrived for pre-season “7 kg overweight” and he struggled to impress in his first few appearances. But against RB Salzburg on Wednesday, Hazard proved all the doubters wrong. He scored a spectacular goal, cutting inside from the left before unleashing an effort beyond the goalkeeper.
Madrid went on to win the game and the former Chelsea star officially announced himself as a Galactico – and it seems his status has finally been recognized with a new squad number. During the pre-season, Hazard had been wearing number 50, but now the club has officially confirmed that the striker will wear number 7 in the upcoming 2019-2020 season.
A fact worth mentioning is that La Liga doesn’t permit numbers greater than 25, as only players coming from the youth academy are allowed to.
© Bildbyrån – COP 7
The Belgian international takes the No. 7 shirt from Mariano Diaz, who was brought back to the Bernabeu for €40 million last summer, just one year after being sold to French club Lyon for €10 million. However, the Dominican Republic international failed to fill the goal-scoring void left by Ronaldo, scoring just four goals in 22 appearances.
Meanwhile, James Rodriguez has been handed Real Madrid’s number 16, while he waits to find out what his future holds. Since the transfer window in Spain has not ended yet, Real Madrid will be expected to say goodbye to few players who don’t belong in the plans for the new season, and make at least one signing during this month.
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