Following Lionel Messi's departure from Barcelona, there has been much speculation on just what the club will end up doing with his famed No. 10 shirt.
Messi donned the No. 10 shirt for much of his Barca career. Many have called for Barca to look into retiring the jersey number, such as with what Serie A side Napoli famously did with Diego Maradona's iconic No. 10 shirt. However, La Liga regulations prohibit a club from doing just that.
As noted by the Spanish-based outlet Sport, Barca, for the moment, has not yet awarded the shirt number to any first-team player. Although there was much chatter that Barca aimed to hand out the jersey to veteran Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho, the report adds that this has not been the case.
Barca club officials much prefer that the team play this season without any player donning Messi's now-former shirt number. However, Barca would need to go the extra mile if it aims to move forth with this plan.
La Liga regulations mandate that every club must have a designated player for each 1-25 jersey number. If Barca aspires to not allow any player from wearing the No. 10 shirt, it would then need to register only 24 players for the now ongoing league season.
Considering that the five substitutions rule will remain for La Liga this season and the fact that the club currently has multiple depth players at each position, it is currently not likely that the club would register one less player for this season.
The report further added that for now, the club would at the least be open to issuing Messi's former No. 10 shirt to a promising prospect rather than to a veteran first-team player.
Barcelona will have until the end of the ongoing summer transfer window to resolve this notable dilemma.
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