Aurelien Tchouameni has chosen to inherit Gareth Bale‘s No.18 shirt, with the Welshman set to depart Real Madrid when his contract comes to an end at the end of this month.
The Frenchman was presented as a new Real Madrid player on Tuesday and posed along with his parents in the trophy room at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
Tchouameni‘s favourite number is the No.8, but he has also donned the No.16 and No.17 shirts.
At Real Madrid he will inherit Bale‘s No.18, whose No.11 shirt was taken by Marco Asensio when the Welshman departed to Tottenham on loan.
“I played a lot with No.8 shirt at the youth teams, at my clubs and national team, but Toni Kroos has No.8,” said Tchouameni.
“I asked which numbers were available and I chose No.18, which is the closest to No.8.”
The curse of the No.18 shirt
No.18 does not bring back good memories to Real Madrid, as some of the players who donned it, such as Jonathan Woodgate, Julien Faubert, Antonio Cassano, Luka Jovic, Mariano Diaz and Javier Saviola, struggled to live up to expectations.
Marca
