Lamine Yamal to wear Barcelona’s number 10 shirt next season

Reports said that Yamine Lamal would wear Barcelona’s infamous number 10 shirt starting next season. In the last 12 months, Yamine Lamal has emerged to be another bright face of Barcelona’s future. The 16-year old featured in 39 games and scored six goals since his senior debut in March 2023.

Barcelona at the same time are looking for another figure for their iconic number 10 since the departure of Ansu Fati to Brighton on loan. Lamal is considered to match the criteria as he has played 27 league appearances, scoring four this season.

Also Read: Barcelona Transfer News: Joan Laporta wants to hand star player a lifetime contract

Legends have praised the quality of Lamine Yamal

Blaugrana manager Xavi Hernandez has been impressed with Lamal since day one. The former midfield dirigent believed that the Barcelona-born youngster, labelling him as “special”.

“I told him to try things and he did,”Xavi on Lamal’s debut last year. “He was close to scoring and he also created well. You can see that he is a special player and that he can become very big. 

“He is a differential player, with the final pass, he is not afraid of anything, he has an innate talent. He can mark the future of the club.”

Another former Barca player who praised Yamal’s quality was Patrick Kluivert. The Dutch striker was impressed with the composure Yamal has shown, as if he was not a young player. 

“To put pressure on a boy that’s 16 years old… It’s not right,” Kluivert said via Goal. “But it’s automatically going. If you look how he performs, if you look how he scores, the goals, it’s a different quality. He will get the pressure automatically, and that’s normal when you perform like this. He’s performing like an adult on the pitch.”

Lamine Yamal to join Barcelona’s number 10 club

Yamal would join the number 10 club alongside the club’s legends from the past, including Lionel Messi. But before Messi wore the shirt, the number has been passed from generations to generations throughout the club’s history. 

The first Barcelona player who wore the number 10 shirt was Henry Morris in the 1901/02 season. Decades later one of the generational football phenomenon Diego Maradona came to the club and wore the number 10 from 1982 to 1984. Former England striker Gary Lineker was also handed the number in the 1987/88 season from Robert Fernandez. 

One of the best Danish players of all time Michael Laudrup had it in the 1990/91 season. From then on, the number has been passed to Eusebio, Richard Witschge, Pep Guardiola, Guillermo Amor, Julio Salinas, Romário, Hristo Stoichkov, José Mari, Gheorghe Hagi, Roger García,  Lluís Carreras, Ángel Cuéllar, Giovanni during the 90’s. 

Jari Litmanen was the first Barcelona player in the millennium era who wore the number. After the Finnish, Rivaldo, Juan Román Riquelme, Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, and Ansu Fati wore the number in that order.