Robert Lewandowski is the latest incumbent of Barcelona’s iconic No.9 shirt. But how have the other wearers of the famous shirt fared since the mid-90s?
Lewandowski is the 12th player to have worn the shirt since 1995 and it would be fair to say that the club have had mixed successes with those that proudly wore the No.9 on their back – from the utterly sublime to the quite frankly ridiculous.
Here’s how we’ve ranked the 11 to have preceded Lewandowski, from worst to best.
11. Martin Braithwaite
It feels mean putting Braithwaite bottom, because – to be fair – he’s done exactly what you’d expect of a striker that not so long ago scored eight goals in 36 Championship appearances for Middlesbrough.
We can’t help but like the Denmark international, who has been honest about his limitations and has always shown his commitment to the cause.
Signed for €18million, his return isn’t all that unreasonable, either, with 10 goals and five assists from 57 appearances, most of which have been off the bench.
10. Meho Kodro
After breaking the 20-goal mark in back-to-back seasons in La Liga for Real Sociedad, Kodro joined Barcelona in the summer of 1995.
He failed to recapture the form he had shown for the Basque club, however, scoring just nine goals in 32 league appearances in his only season at Camp Nou. That’s still a better ratio than Braithwaite, to be fair.
9. Memphis Depay
Given he scored more international goals than any other player in 2021, it was obvious why his former Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman wanted him at the Camp Nou – just like Louis van Gaal did at Manchester United back in 2015.
Given he was available on a free, and had been wildly successful at Lyon, the move was a no-brainer. And everything started off promisingly enough, with two goals in his first three appearances before another five for his country in the September 2021 international break.
Things took a turn for the worse after that, though.
To be fair, he managed to reach 12 goals in his 28 La Liga games last season, but he doesn’t look a natural fit for Xavi’s style of football.
The fact Xavi has since signed both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lewandowski – who was immediately handed the No.9 – suggests Memphis is on his way out. Reports have linked him with a free transfer to Juventus.
8. Sonny Anderson
Anderson joined Barcelona from Monaco in 1997 and had the unenviable task of replacing Ronaldo at the Nou Camp.
“It was a very…
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