Barcelona legend Lionel Messi has left for PSG this summer, marking an end to his 18-year-old association with the club. His departure has seen an opening in the famous no.10 jersey and so far, the club had not appointed any successor for this vacant shirt.
On Wednesday, the club officially announced that they have handed the no.10 jersey to Ansu Fati. This jersey has been previously worn by the likes of Ronaldinho, Messi, and Rivaldo. But now the legacy of this jersey will be carried forward by the 18-year-old wonderkid.
Fati,18, has already been an instant hit in the Barca senior side after making his debut at 16. Back in August 2019, he became the youngest goalscorer in La Liga after scoring in a 2-2 draw against Osasuna.
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Last season, the Bissau-born teenager had a good start to his league campaign as he notched up four goals in seven games. However, his season was cut short by a knee injury against Real Betis and had been ruled out for four months. The 18-year-old forward was slated to make a return in March but was unable to make a comeback as he couldn’t recover in time from his knee injury.
As of now, the forward is back to training and can soon be expected to make his return for the Blaugrana outfit in the ongoing season.
Why have Barcelona handed the no.10 jersey to Fati?
Maybe, the biggest reason why Barca decided to hand over the no.10 jersey is that they expect the youngster to live up to the reputation of the number. In a way, this decision can have extreme effects on the player as either we might see the player live up to the standards of this legendary jersey or it can simply overburden the player with the weight of expectation that the shirt brings.
Either way, we have to wait and watch how Fati fares as the successor to Messi’s no.10 shirt. The forward knows that he has big boots to fill in and hence will hope to give his best shot to emulate the Argentine’s success at the Camp Nou.