David Alaba was unveiled at Real Madrid on Wednesday, July 21, 2021, and was given shirt number four which was worn by the club’s legendary defender Sergio Ramos.
This amplified the speculation that the 29-year-old Austrian center-back joined Real Madrid to replace Sergio Ramos who left the club earlier in the summer. When he was addressing the press after his unveiling, David Alaba insisted that he didn’t come to Real Madrid to replace the legendary defender.
According to the Austrian defender, it was Real Madrid that told him that shirt number four was available for him, adding that he would have swapped the shirt number for another if he had the chance.
David Alaba went on to insist that he left Bayern Munich for Real Madrid to be himself and would not want to compare himself to any other player.
He said: “We all know Ramos was here for a long time and wore this number, becoming the leader of this team.
“But the truth is that yesterday I spoke to the club and they told me that right now it’s the only available squad number, and I didn’t want to start asking other players if they wanted to swap.
“I’m honored to wear the number four, it’s a source of great pride and motivation for me and I want to do it justice – but I’m not here to compare myself to other players or replace them: I’m here to be David Alaba.”
🎥 Everything you DIDN’T see at @David_Alaba‘s presentation!#WelcomeAlaba | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/hqYeh7pnhr
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) July 21, 2021
From when it was first reported that David Alaba was coming to Real Madrid this summer until when he finally signed the deal from Bayern Munich for free on July 1, 2021, it was always speculated that he was coming to replace Sergio Ramos.
Before Sergio Ramos left Real Madrid for Paris Saint Germain this summer, he spent 13 years of his football career playing for Real Madrid where he won virtually everything in club football.
During most parts of those years, the 35-year-old Spanish footballer served as the captain of the club wearing shirt number four which has been given to Alaba.
On the shirt number, David Alaba revealed that he “spoke to the club about that. They offered me that number. I don’t think there was any other.”
“I know what the number means for the club and that motivates me. It represents strength and leadership. I want to give my all for that number”, he added.
“I haven’t come here to compare myself with others. I’m David Alaba and I’ll keep being David Alaba. I’ll be myself.”
David Alaba might move to Madrid with Shalimar Heppner
David Alaba will spend the next five years of his football career at Real Madrid with his stunning girlfriend, Shalimar Heppner.
The 29-year-old Austrian football star and Shalimar Heppner have been in a relationship since 2017. However, they made their relationship official in 2018 during the Oktoberfest in Bavaria, Germany.
Records claimed that Shalimar Heppner is a German as she was born on September 15, 1994, in Munich, Germany. Besides being famous for being David Alaba’s girlfriend, she is known to be a model and a PR manager.
David Alaba and Shalimar Heppner have a son in 2019. They have been keeping the identity of the child private since then. Even the name of the boy is still top-secret as at the time of publishing this report.
😍 FAMILY 😍 #WelcomeAlaba | @David_Alaba pic.twitter.com/EJFGWS8P9G
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) July 21, 2021
