Fat chance: Barca must replace Ansu in Messi's iconic No.10 jersey

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 11 Feb 2023 21:28 GMT
• 3 min read

Replicas of Ansu Fati's No.10 shirt at Barcelona are failing to sell at a time when the club is desperate to maximise revenues in any way they can…

Messi's No.10 jersey at Barca flew off the shelves, and the cub have a rich history of players who have worn the number with aplomb on the field, as well as making a significant economic impact off it, such as Ronaldinho and Diego Maradona.

Ansu inherited the jersey from Messi in the summer of 2021 after the club legend left on free transfer for Paris Saint-Germain as the Blaugrana wrestled with a debt which, at the time, stood at €1.35 billion.

READ: Barcelona's banter era: 2017 until… today?

President Joan Laporta has been working hard to pull the club away from economic oblivion, activating 'financial levers' - the sale of a percentage of future revenues on TV rights, merchandising and more - in order to fund transfer spending last summer.

The Blaugrana spent €150 million on Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde last summer, but their group stage exit from this season's Champions League was an economic disaster, and La Liga want the club to trim €200m from their wage bill next summer.

Ansu jerseys not selling

Jersey sales are a potentially lucrative revenue stream, but Ansu's No.10 simply isn't shifting.

READ: Man Utd get €200m boost over Ansu and Frenkie

"Right now, it's not even among the six best sellers," an official FC Barcelona store employee told AS. "If you want a Fati shirt, you have to ask for the name to be screen printed because we don't have it in stock."

The most popular jerseys in recent weeks have been Gavi's No.6, which European football's Golden Boy changed to recently - "it's crazy among teenagers" - closely followed by Pedri's No.8 and Lewandowski's No.9, while "[Marc-Andre] ter Stegen, Frenkie [de Jong] and [Ronald] Araujo also have their circulation."

Ansu has been linked with a summer transfer to Manchester United or Arsenal. Currently valued at €27.3 million by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, it appears his sale would help the club in more ways than one…