Barcelona will NOT be retiring Lionel Messi’s iconic number 10 shirt – but only because La Liga rules won’t allow it.
Messi is the greatest player in the history of Barcelona, with his brilliance providing the club with their most successful period in their rich history.
The Argentine is an icon at the Nou Camp, with his premature departure cause for heartbreak for anyone with any affiliation to the Spanish giants.
With Messi having departed, you imagine that the club will be doing something significant to honour his memory. Retiring shirt numbers of a go-to for many clubs.
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However, as reported by The Sun, Barcelona will not be allowed to retire the number 10, with La Liga rules essentially preventing them from doing so.
As is mentioned in the report, La Liga insist that members of the squad must be numbered 1-25, meaning if Barca were to leave our the number 10, they’d be a player short.
You’d think that exceptions could be made, especially in the case of a player like Messi, but that looks unlikely to happen.