Lamine Yamal wants to own Barça's No 10 his way, all the way

Daily Maverick

3 days ago

The number on a player's back has the potential to make or break a career, as quite a few can attest. All eyes are now on teenager Lamine Yamal after he took on Barcelona's most famous shirt.
Lamine Yamal has been destined to follow in the footsteps of sports legend Lionel Messi since the pair coincidentally crossed paths in 2007. That year, as a six-month-old infant, Yamal won the opportunity to be in a photoshoot with a 20-year-old Messi as part of a charity effort.
The Barça Foundation, in conjunction with Spanish newspaper Diario Sport, ran a raffle to choose 12 lucky babies who would pose with 12 selected Barcelona stars, with each picture adorning one month on the calendar. The proceeds from the calendar sales would go to charities such as Unicef. Yamal's family was one of the winners.
Last month, Barcelona confirmed that for the 2025/26 season, Yamal will wear the club's famous No 10 shirt. Its most legendary wearer in recent memory is none other than Messi, while other notable wearers include Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Diego Maradona and Juan Roman Riquelme.
It's evidently a number stacked with history for the Catalan club – and teenage sensation Yamal seems ready to carry it on his youthful shoulders. The No 10 before him was another teenage prodigy, Ansu Fati.
A cautionary tale
Fati is a product of Barcelona's academy, La Masia, just like Messi and Yamal. He too attracted attention from a young age, debuting for the first team at just 16 years old. Alongside Yamal and three others, Fati is one of Barcelona's five youngest debutants.
Fati was so promising that, just a year after his senior debut, he finished second behind Manchester City striker Erling Haaland in the race for the 2020 Golden Boy award. It goes to the best under-21 player in Europe each season.
Since then, a number of injuries and a loss of form have stalled Fati's career. He has hardly played for Barcelona in recent years, even though he remains contracted to the club. Instead he has spent his time either on loan or on the sidelines due to injury.
Some have speculated that Fati's troubles truly began in 2021, when he inherited Messi's No 10 shirt. This was after Messi departed from Blaugrana for Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona's announcement came after Fati had been sidelined for nearly a year because of injury. They offered him the famous shirt number because they saw him as the next big superstar to come from La Masia. He was positioned as the face of the club, the next Messi.
The weight of expectation crushed Fati, and he has never quite reached the potential he was once touted to have. Even though he is only 22 years old, considering his injury history, it's difficult to imagine him ever reaching the heights he was supposedly destined for. It was recently announced that the attacker will spend this season on loan with Ligue 1 club Monaco.
'He is an extraordinary person. I sincerely believe that he should not have accepted to wear the shirt with the 10,' former La Masia director Xavi Martín told Diario Sport. 'If I was at La Masia at that moment, I would have told him, 'Ansu, now is not the time. If it comes, it will come'. Because he's very demanding of himself and he put more pressure on himself.'
Making his own way
Yamal is now in a similar position to Fati. Coincidentally, the fleet-footed winger is the same age Fati was when he accepted the added challenge that comes with donning No 10 on your back at Barcelona.
Prior to the announcement that he would wear the legendary number, Yamal wore No 19. It's the same kit number Messi wore while he was still creating a name for himself. Messi went on to wear No 10 after Ronaldinho departed Barça for AC Milan in 2008. He was 21 years old at the time.
Despite the history he shares with Messi on so many levels, Yamal says he is his own person. The 18-year-old winger, who burst onto the scene in 2023, wants to craft his own reputation.
'I'll try to build my own path, but all kids would like to be like [Messi, Maradona and Ronaldinho],' Yamal said. 'All three have been incredible players. They're legends and I'll try to follow in their footsteps.'
Of Messi specifically, he said: 'I don't want to compare myself with anyone, even less with Messi… He is the best player in football history. I am making my own way.'
As he enters this daunting chapter of his fledgling career, this is a healthy approach to follow. If Yamal was a superstar prior to donning the No 10, his popularity will surge even higher now.
More Barcelona jerseys with his number will be sold, adding to the expectations placed on Yamal. In fact, Barcelona sold about 70,000 Yamal shirts in the 24 hours after the announcement that he would wear No 10 for the upcoming season.
What's in a number?
While No 10 can be a blessing or curse at Barcelona, other clubs have their own fabled kit numbers. At Manchester United, No 7 has been worn by greats such as George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Other wearers of the number for the Red Devils include Messi's compatriot, Ángel Di Maria, as well as Memphis Depay, Alexis Sanchez and Michael Owen. None of them reached the standards set by previous wearers of No 7.
Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa rejected the opportunity to don the famous kit number when he joined the Red Devils in 2012, saying he wants to craft a name for himself. But Kagawa struggled to settle in at Manchester and eventually returned to his former club, Borussia Dortmund, after just two years.
Kagawa's case demonstrates that even though certain kit numbers can come with added pressure for the wearer, there is no perfect science behind the phenomenon. Whether you avoid a 'heavy' number or not, success is not guaranteed.
Yamal will definitely be under more scrutiny after inheriting Barcelona's 10. During the difficult times he could face in this new chapter, the teenager may tap into that unlikely encounter with Messi in 2007 – even if just to reinforce his belief that he belongs where he finds himself and is not an impostor. DM