Confirmed: Lamine Yamal follows in Lionel Messi’s footsteps with Barcelona squad number change | OneFootball

Last week, Barcelona confirmed that Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi had been officially registered as first team players. It opened up the opportunity for them to take new squad numbers for next season, and the former has now done just that.

In recent months, there has been an abundance of speculation surrounding the possibility of Lamine Yamal taking the number 10 jersey, which was vacant last season, but is still held by Ansu Fati. The latter is projected to remain at Barcelona for the 2024-25 campaign at least, and he will keep that squad number.

However, it means that Lamine Yamal does instead follow in the footsteps of Lionel Messi with his new number. The Argentine icon selected 19 as his second number in 2006, and Lamine Yamal has done likewise 18 years later.

MD report that Lamine Yamal had been interested by the number 10 jersey, but he opted not to make a move for it out of respect for Fati. It’s also worth noting that the 17-year-old wore that number during Spain’s Euro 2024 success. The number 19 was held by Vitor Roque last season, so the Brazilian teenager will also need to switch jerseys.

It remains to be seen how Lamine Yamal gets on with his new squad number next season. Barcelona will hope that he keeps going from strength to strength, that’s for sure.