Lamine Yamal to inherit Messi's iconic number 10 jersey for Barcelona
Yamal, who recently turned 18 on Sunday, takes the number from Ansu Fati, who completed a season-long loan move to AS Monaco earlier this month, as per ESPN.
Taking to their official X handle, FC Barcelona wrote, "Our new No. 10."
The young winger has emerged as one of the brightest faces for both Barcelona and Spain and has made 106 appearances for the club, scoring 25 goals. Now, he will be inheriting one of the most iconic jerseys in sporting history and with that, tonnes of responsibility to score match-winning goals and assist his teammates in play-making.
The number 10 jersey by has been worn by several Barcelona stars, including Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Romario and Diego Maradona, other than Messi.
It will be Yamal's fourth different jersey number with Spanish giants, wearing number 41 on debut in 2022-23, following by number 27 in the next season and number 19 last year, which was interestingly the number Messi used to wear before taking the number 10 shirt.
With Barca, Yamal has already won two La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey and a Spanish Supercopa title as well. He helped Spain win the European Championship last year, emerging as the 'Best Emerging Player'.
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