Barca pay respect to Messi: no one will wear number 10 in La Liga opener

Ronald Koeman has now chosen his 23 players for the first clash of the season. Barcelona will host Real Sociedad this Sunday in their first without Leo Messi and with which the club will start their definitive path without the Argentine star.

At the moment, the squad continue to respect the shirt number that for many years had a very recognisable owner. For their La Liga opener, nobody has wanted to take over Messi's number 10 shirt, as the Argentine himself will don the number 30 jersey in his new club PSG.

Depay will take the number 9, while Rey Manaj will wear the number 14. Eric Garcia also doesn't have an assigned number just yet and will take the number 24 jersey for this match. To be more exact, Rey Manaj has taken the number previously worn by Coutinho, who is out of the squad list for tactical reasons and which all but confirms that he will be on his way out of the club.

His departure along with similar fates for Umititi and Pjanic may mean that enough numbers will be available to leave free the number 10 of Leo Messi all season, although that will of course depend on whether new signings come in to the club.