Chad Ochocinco has been traded to a new team. But, he DOES NOT want a new jersey number. Sources close to the NFL star say he’s willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to sport #85 for the New England Patriots this season.

The problem? The number currently belongs to Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez — who rocked #85 in 2010 … when he DOMINATED all season long.

Ochocinco who changed his lastname to match his jersey number a few years ago, wants to pay Hernandez to give up the digits and sources say Chad feels “no number is too high.”

Jersey numbers don’t come cheap. It cost Clinton Portis $18k to buy the #26 from a teammate when he was traded to the Washington Redskins a few years ago.