Barcelona Give No 10 Jersey to Ansu Fati After Lionel Messi Exit From Club

New Delhi: FC Barcelona took a big decision on Wednesday and gave the iconic club’s number 10 jersey to 18-year-old Ansu Fati after Lionel Messi’s departure from the club in the recently concluded summer transfer window. Messi name was synonymous with the number 10 jersey during his time at the club as he scripted history donning the iconic number which he received in 2008 after Ronaldinho left the club.

With Messi’s departure, many fans want Barcelona to retire the iconic number 10 jersey which the Argentine wore for most of his time at Blaugrana. However, the Spanish Football Federation rules Barcelona were forced to continue the number 10 jersey.

According to the rules of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, each team in La Liga is only allowed to use 25 players in a squad, and they must use the squad numbers between 1 and 25. Thus, the 25 first-team members to wear the digits between 1 and 25 on the back of their shirts. If Barcelona would have decided to retire the number 10 jersey then they will be forced to have only 24 players in the squad which could be a tricky thing to do.

Our new number 🔟
Made in La Masia 💙❤️
⭐️ @ANSUFATI ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/co6NcpjxOx

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 1, 2021

Fati, who is a La Masia product, is expected to become the next big star at Barcelona as he has also displayed glimpses of his talent in the past two seasons whenever he got the chance to play. However, Fati was on the sidelines for most of the last season after suffering a knee injury.

The 18-year-old has not played for the Catalan side for over nine months due to knee problems but is now closing in on a return to action. A few days back, the 18-year-old returned to full training and took part in the session with the first team.