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Barcelona have decided to give their vacant number 7 shirt to French winger Ousmane Dembele. The iconic shirt number was left unused following Antoine Griezmann's loan move to Atlético Madrid on transfer deadline day.
Dembele previously donned the number 11 shirt at Barcelona. However, Antoine Griezmann's move has allowed him to get his hands on the number 7 shirt.
Ousmane Dembele arrived in Barcelona in the summer of 2017 from Borussia Dortmund for a monstrous fee of €135 million. Since then, the 24-year-old winger has played 118 games for Barcelona, scoring 30 goals. He is currently recovering from a hamstring injury which he sustained in June. Barcelona's official statement regarding the same read:
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"Ousmane Dembélé is continuing his recovery at the Ciutat Esportiva, even though much of the team are away this week on international duty. The French striker, who underwent surgery at the expert hand of Lasse Lempainen, has been out with distal bicep tendonitis in his right leg since late June."
In his place, Barcelona have decided to give the vacated number 11 shirt to new arrival Yusuf Demir, who signed for the Catalan giants on loan from Austrian side Rapid Wien. Barcelona are showing a lot of confidence in the 18-year-old winger, who has just one senior cap for Austria by giving him such an important squad number.
Barcelona offer the number 10 shirt to Ansu Fati
Apart from the number 7 shirt, Barcelona had another important shirt number in #10 left vacant after Lionel Messi decided to leave the Catalan giants to join Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.
Barcelona have decided to give the club's most prestigious shirt number to yet another La Masia star in Ansu Fati.
According to La Liga rules, a club has to provide shirt numbers from 1 to 25 for every member of the first-team squad. This means that Barcelona cannot retire the hallowed number 10 shirt in honor of Lionel Messi. Barcelona thus decided to continue Messi's legacy by giving the iconic number to Ansu Fati, who came through the ranks at Barcelona like Messi.
Barcelona's official statement regarding Ansu Fati's new shirt number read:
"Ansu Fati has a new shirt number. After wearing the number 22 then 17, the young Barça striker will proudly wear the number 10 shirt - a famous jersey previously worn by legends such as Leo Messi, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo."
Also Read: David James' column - Ranking the 5 greatest full-backs of all time
