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Looks like Ronaldo will be able to continue with the CR7 brand for now. On July 10, both Real Madrid and Juventus announced that they had agreed to a more than $100 million deal what would take Ronaldo from La Liga to Serie A. The Juventus statement didn’t state that Ronaldo would be given the number seven jersey that was worn by Juan Cuadrado during the 2017/18 season. Although the graphic that accompanied it saw the “T” in Cristiano turned into a seven.
That’s not to mention the hoards of adoring Juventus fans would were snapped getting their hands on jerseys bearing the Portuguese superstar’s name, accompanied with the number seven. A few days before the move, Mediaset in Italy was reporting that Cuadrado was willing to let Ronaldo have his coveted number. The Colombian winger apparently was ready to switch to number 16.
Throughout his career with Manchester United, Ronaldo was always number seven. The Daily Mirror reported in 2014 that Ronaldo had requested to wear the number 28 jersey but was later convinced to take on the famous number seven that had been worn by George Best, Steve Coppell and David Beckham. He replaced David Beckham as the team’s number seven when Beckham moved to Madrid in the summer of 25. The Mirror article quotes Ronaldo as saying, “After I joined the manager asked me what number I’d like. I said 28. But Ferguson said ‘no, you’re going to have No.7’ and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honor.”
When Ronaldo broke the world transfer record in 2009, he first wore the number nine jersey at Real. In a ceremony at the club’s stadium, Ronaldo was handed the shirt by former number nine, Alfredo Di Stefano. It wasn’t until the start of the 2010/11 season that Ronaldo was handed the number seven shirt.
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Ronaldo Juventus Jersey: Juan Cuadrado Gives Up No.7