Ansu Fati is the latest player to be handed Barcelona’s iconic No.10 shirt, following in the footsteps of some legendary figures.
The La Masia academy clearly isn’t fazed by following some of the greatest footballers in history – including arguably the very best of them all, his immediate predecessor.
We’ve ranked the eight from worst to best.
8. Angel Cuellar
A Real Betis academy graduate, Cuellar moved to the Nou Camp in 1995 and became the first Barcelona player to be officially assigned the No.10 shirt in La Liga.
But he endured a disastrous debut, suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury that kept him on the sidelines for just under six months.
The forward scored two goals in 15 appearances in the second half of the season but then lost the No.10 shirt ahead of 1996-97. He spent a year with the No.11 before returning to Betis.
7. Jari Litmanen
Having played under Van Gaal at Ajax, Litmanen linked up with the manager at Barcelona in the summer of 1999.
He never really recaptured the form he had shown in the Eredivisie and was also plagued by a series of injury problems at Barcelona.
“You have to adapt to a new culture when you move to a different club,” Van Gaal would later say of Litmanen. “Not every player is able to do that.”
The former Finland international lost the No.10 shirt at the end of his first season and then joined Liverpool on a free transfer in January 2001.
6. Juan Roman Riquelme
Once dubbed the ‘next Diego Maradona’, Riquelme followed in his footsteps by leaving Boca Juniors for Barcelona in 2002.
The former Argentina international arrived amid high expectations, only for Van Gaal to reveal the he had been forced upon him as a “political signing” before using the natural-born No.10 as a winger.
He struggled for consistency during his sole season at the Nou Camp and was deemed surplus to requirements following Ronaldinho’s arrival, joining Villarreal on a two-year loan deal.
Riquelme then rediscovered his best form with the Yellow Submarine and made the move permanent in 2005.
“Why didn’t Riquelme triumph at Barca? Because he had a dickhead like Van Gaal as his coach,” Hristo Stoichkov told Radio Impacto in 2020. “It’s clear, isn’t it?
“He did not succeed because of the way Van Gaal put him on the field. But even so, the first year in Barcelona he also enjoyed a lot.
“I enjoyed his goals, passes, plays, stepovers, but when one comes who wants to invent one thing from something…
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