Real Madrid fans are furious that Alaba has been given the ‘Ramos’ four. But neither the club nor the player had a choice

David Alaba was officially unveiled as Real Madrid’s first signing on Wednesday lunchtime. Posing with the jersey caused great embarrassment among the White Ballet fans, as the Austrian was given the number 4, which was worn by club legend Sergio Ramos.

At the end of June, Sergio Ramos’ union with Real Madrid, which lasted for 15 long years, was torn. Almost nobody could imagine him in another jersey and nobody could imagine a white Merengues jersey with the number 4 with a different name tag than “Ramos”.

But times are changing. And fast. Just a few weeks after the number four in the Los Blancos cabinet became vacant after years, it is already occupied again. David Alaba, a fresh signing from Bayern Munich, will be the new signing.

And it has caused quite a stir among the fans. According to many, out of respect for Ramos, it should have remained vacant or even been scrapped altogether. But this is just a wish of the fans, the club has to follow the rules. And the rules are clear.

La Liga dictates that each club’s A-team players must wear numbers 1-25 only. Thus, every number must be occupied, the legendary Ramos four simply cannot remain vacant. If no one took it, Real Madrid would have to register one less player.

And in that case, it’s probably a better solution to let a footballer who has already achieved a lot take over the number four than an inexperienced youngster from the B team.

The rules of La Liga don’t allow for jersey scrapping either. In football this is generally not an established rule, it’s more of an NHL thing where players play with numbers 1-100.

If, for example, Real Madrid just discarded a number after each of their legends, in a while players would be starting with numbers on their backs like 36 or 85.

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