Fans can't believe the number that Real Madrid are set to hand Jude Bellingham

Jude Bellingham is expected to join Real Madrid this summer from Borussia Dortmund, and fans are surprised by the new squad number he'll have.

There would have been a whole battle royal of clubs who wanted to sign Bellingham this summer but it's long been expected that Real have already won the race.

The midfielder was in tears after Dortmund missed out on winning the Bundesliga on the final day of the season, with their slip up allowing Bayern Munich to win it for the 11th year in-a-row.

His tears were understandable considering the opportunity they threw away and not necessarily indicative of a player leaving the club.

However the 19-year-old was also handing out gifts to those at Dortmund which certainly seemed a farewell to the people he's been working with.

Signing the England star could be the start of a hell of a summer at the Bernabeu, especially with Harry Kane their top target to replace Karim Benzema.

Los Blancos are so determined to sign the Tottenham Hotspur striker that they've already 'reserved' the number nine for his squad number.

And now it seems that they've got another important number in mind for Bellingham with reports that they will have him the seven shirt, according to El Mundo.

Bellingham is likely to have played his final game for Dortmund. Image: Alamy

Fans are generally quite annoyed with the decision to hand Eden Hazard's old number to the midfielder, after the Belgian's time in the Spanish capital came to an end.

"Arrest Florentino Perez," exclaimed one fan.

"Not a worthy number 7," claimed a second.

Suggesting other alternatives to be given the number, another said: "Kylian Mbappe or Endrick, reserve this number for them bro."

"Seeing 7 on him would be weird. Also a sign that Mbappe or any marquee signings wont come," added a fourth.

The previous two occupants of the shirt haven't worked out well for Real and another replied: "Nooooo! You’re going to jinx him. There’s already the English curse; now y’all wanna add the no.7 curse that Ronaldo placed on that jersey?"

Hazard's departure leaves the number seven shirt free. Image: Alamy

With Hazard, Benzema and Marco Asensio all leaving the Bernabeu this summer it means that the numbers seven, nine and 11 are all available.

Some have suggested that Vinicius Jr could be getting one of them and 'upgrade' from the 20 that he currently wears on his shirt.

However the Brazil star actually wears that number because it has brought him luck in the past, having started wearing it when he was at Flamengo.

Topics: Football, Real Madrid, Bundesliga, La Liga, Transfers, Fan Reactions, Jude Bellingham, Borussia Dortmund

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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