FC Barcelona, like many of the great sides of European football, have had many icons of the game wear their colors. More often than not, a lot of the legacy that these players leave behind becomes immortalized through their unique shirt numbers.
Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, David Villa, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Johan Cruyff, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, and many others enabled new generations of football fans to be reminded of their existence whenever they saw certain kit numbers on the back of shirts.
As such, whenever new players emerge at Barcelona, they hope to mark their own history. However, with most of the numbers already allocated, special numbers are sometimes adopted by players only beginning their journey at Barça.
Such will be the case for Barcelona’s latest signing, Vitor Roque. According to kit specialist fcbarcelonacollection (h/t Barca Times), Barcelona will “most likely” give the number 19 to the Brazilian striker once he arrives in the Catalan capital during the winter transfer window.
Famously, the number 19 was previously worn by Barcelona and Argentine great Lionel Messi himself. Prior to his days of wearing the now-fabled number 10, Messi wore the 19 for a short time at Barcelona.
For Roque, this will understandably be a different kind of number than he is used to. Already a starter for Athletico Paranaense and their top scorer, he was accustomed to wearing the number ‘9’ for the Furacao. However, with that number already occupied by Robert Lewandowski, Roque will have to adjust to a new one for now.
Interestingly, the latest revelation also confirms that there is a possibility that Roque will be assigned the number 10 jersey in the 2024/25 season. This will, however, depend on Ansu Fati’s future. For now, this is not a guarantee but it remains a real possibility as well.
Thus far, the young 18-year-old striker has scored 22 goals already in 2023. His numbers are massively impressive, but he just has one more game left to play with Athletico Paranaense. Following that last encounter against Santos, Roque is expected to make the move to Europe, beginning a new chapter altogether.