Nobody has any idea where the money’s coming from, but it’s all change at Barcelona as president Joan Laporta attempts to propel the club back into the upper echelons of European football.
The Blaugrana have made a host of stunning new signings, most notably Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich and Leeds winger Raphinha. Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie have also joined on free transfers from Chelsea and Milan respectively.
To fund these unlikely deals, there will probably be a number of high-profile outgoings at Camp Nou this summer too.
That means a big shakeup of shirt numbers is coming. Here are Barcelona’s squad numbers for 2022/23 as it stands…
1 – Marc-Andre ter Stegen (GK)
2 – Sergino Dest
3 – Gerard Pique
4 – Ronald Araujo
5 – Sergio Busquets
6 – Riqui Puig
7 – Ousmane Dembele
8 – Pedri
9 – Memphis Depay
10 – Ansu Fati
12 – Martin Braithwaite
13 – Neto (GK)
14 – Nico Gonzalez
18 – Jordi Alba
19 – Ferran Torres
20 – Sergi Roberto
21 – Frenkie de Jong
22 – Oscar Mingueza
23 – Samuel Umtiti
24 – Eric Garcia
25 – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
26 – Inaki Pena (GK)
30 – Gavi
33 – Ez Abde
36 – Arnau Tenas (GK)
Players without shirt numbers: Robert Lewandowski, Miralem Pjanic, Andreas Christensen, Alex Collado, Franck Kessie, Raphinha
La Liga have some interesting rules on squad numbers that differ from most of the other top European Leagues.
Regulations state that first-team players must be handed a squad number from one to 25. In addition, goalkeepers can only wear 1, 13 or 25, while second-string players must have a number between 26-50.
These restrictions were in the news recently when Barcelona were prevented from retiring the number 10 jersey as it would have hampered their ability to registered a full, 25-person squad in the future.
La Liga players are free to change their shirt numbers ahead of a new season much later than in other European leagues.
Players plying their trade in Spain’s top tier do not need to decide their number until the end of August, and new signings are free to take whatever number they want – provided the other player agrees to vacate it.
