Welshman Gareth Bale has lost his signature number 11 upon his return to Real Madrid. Bale was away from Real Madrid last season after he was forced to go out on loan due to the lack of playing time in the previous season.
Gareth Balebecame a Real Madrid player following his world-record transfer from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2013. He was at Real Madrid for seven seasons before the loan return to North London. Bale started slowly at Spurs before he picked up his form towards the second half of the season.The Welsh international scored twice in his final game for Spurs last season. His brace propelled the North London outfit to a 4-2 away win over Leicester City.
While Bale was away, his signature number 11 was given to Spanish international Marcos Asensio who’s presently with his country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. He scored the only goal of the game in extra time as Spain beat hosts Japan 1-0 in their last four clash to seal a place in the final. Asensio and Spain will face defending champions Brazil in the final this weekend.
Spanish media portal AS confirmed that Bale has lost the number 11 shirt at Real Madrid to Asensio and that he will have to pick between two numbers. Gareth Bale will have to choose either number 14 or number 16 with number 12 taken.
Frenchman Raphael Varane vacated the number 5 position when he left Real Madrid for Manchester United and Brazilian international Casemiro has been given the number. Real Madrid wanted to keep Varane at the club but the player wanted a fresh challenge.