Barcelona have made a mistake by assigning the No.6 shirt to Todibo
After joining from Grêmio, Arthur was handed Andrés Iniesta‘s old No.8 shirt. Barcelona committed a mistake in thinking that Arthur would succeed Iniesta in the first-team. But the Brazilian playmaker has turned out to be an exact replica of Xavi.
The young midfielder has shown striking resemblance with Iniesta’s predecessor as Barça captain, despite playing in Iniesta’s position on the left side of midfield. Surprisingly, Xavi’s famed No.6 shirt has gone to new signing, 19-year old French centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo.
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Firstly, the No.6 shirt should have been retired when Xavi left the club after captaining Barça to their second treble under former teammate Luis Enrique. But the club did not do that. Instead, it was assigned to Dani Alves and Denis Suárez for two successive seasons.
Now, after Denis’ departure, Todibo has got the No.6 shirt. But the starlet does not deserve it, and it is inappropriate for him to wear that shirt on the pitch. It does not belong to anyone. But if the club were to still use that number, the only player who deserves it is Arthur.
If Barça decide to juggle up the numbers to adjust according to the new signings, Arthur should be the new recipient of the No.6 shirt. Todibo should be assigned the No.24 shirt, which was worn by Carles Puyol in one of his early seasons after the call-up from Barcelona B.
More recently, it was worn by Jérémy Mathieu, Yerry Mina and Sergi Roberto before being assigned to Thomas Vermaelen. As for the No.8 shirt, it belongs to new signing Frenkie de Jong, who has shown tremendous attacking guile and playmaking prowess.