Barcelona’s season is starting very soon, and with transfer operations still ongoing, shirt numbers are already being distributed. There’s one piece of news to start, and it has to do with the goalkeepers.
With the departure of Marc-André ter Stegen to Ajax, the #1 shirt became available, and Joan Garcia has taken it. Already the #1 for Barcelona in terms of starting preference in Hansi Flick’s mind, Garcia now will wear the number as well.
La Liga’s website shows Garcia with #1, after he wore #13
last season. That, incidentally has opened up #13 for Wojciech Szczęsny to wear. The Polish keeper previously wore #25.
New signings Anthony Gordon, Karim Adeyemi, and Jesse Bisiwu do not yet appear on the website and will need to be assigned numbers. Gordon wore #10 for Newcastle United and #18 for England — neither are available.
Adeyemi could wear #14, as he did for Germany. It’s an open number and he wore it already in a friendly for Barcelona against Nottingham Forest. Bisiwu wore #74 in that match, but he won’t be able to during the season as La Liga caps shirts at #50. He could wear #42 as he once wore during his time at Club Brugge.
Héctor Fort, who is back from a loan to Elche, also has not been assigned one. He most recently wore #32 for Barça in official competitions. He wore #95 in a friendly, which again, cannot be used during official competitions.
Rumored signings will also need shirt numbers too. João Cancelo and Rodri are the most likely signings going from reports. Cancelo could wear #2, which he wore for Barcelona last season and is still free. Fermín López wears #16, which Rodri wears for Manchester City. A new striker, if signed, could end up wearing Robert Lewandowski’s #9. Someone else could take #7 if Ferran Torres leaves, as has been rumored.
Apart from 2, 14, and 9, the available senior team shirts are: 4, 12, 15, and 25. La Liga rules cap senior team shirts at 25, and 25 must be assigned to a goalkeeper if a team has three senior goalkeepers.
