A summer of squad number switches

With the transfer window now closed and the last additions registered, the FC Barcelona squad for the 23/24 season is now confirmed, along with the jersey numbers.

Xavi Hernández will be able to select from a squad of 19 first team players after the arrivals of Oriol Romeu, Iñigo Martínez, Ilkay Gündoğan, João Cancelo and João Félix, and the departures of Umtiti, Pablo Torre, Collado, Nico, Julian Araujo, Kessie, Dembele, Dest, Lenglet, Ansu, Eric, Abde, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.

A very busy window

This summer could rival the Barcelona El Prat airport for arrivals and departures. The transfer window has been very busy for FC Barcelona with squad ins and outs totalling no fewer than 20 players.

Six have arrived, with five players already here, namely Oriol Romeu, Iñigo Martínez, İlkay Gündoğan, João Cancelo and João Félix, who have all already donned blaugrana in a competitive match. Only Vitor Roque is yet to feature as he is set to arrive at the Club at a later date.

When it comes to the outs, 14 players have left, whether in the form of loans, transfers, contract cancellations or ends of contracts. Umtiti, Collado, Nico, Kessie, Dembele and Abde all left on transfers. Pablo Torre, Julian Araujo, Dest, Lenglet, Ansu and Eric all went out on loan. Lastly Sergio Busquets left when his contract ended and Jordi Alba agreed with Club for his contract to be cancelled.

12 jersey number changes

So much movement in the transfer window has had a knock-on effect on the jersey numbers, with 10 players having new numbers for this season. Only the following remain unchanged from last season - Ter Stegen (1), Ronald Araujo (4), Pedri (8), Lewandowski (9), Christensen (15), Marcos Alonso (17), Sergi Roberto (20), Frenkie de Jong (21) and Kounde (23).

Clearly the new arrivals will have new numbers. Cancelo chose the number 2, Iñigo Martínez took the legendary 5 that Busquets vacated, while Oriol Romeu took 18 that used to be worn by Jordi Alba. Joao Félix chose 14 and Gundogan 22.

Alejandro Balde took the number 3 that Gerard Piqué wore for 15 years. Ferran Torres chose the 7, leaving the 11 free for Raphinha. Gavi finally has the 6, and lastly, Iñaki Peña chose 13.

This switch of numbers sees no one wearing the number 10 for the first time since 1995, previously worn by Giovanni, Litmanen, Rivaldo, Riquelme, Ronaldinho, Messi and latterly Ansu. Other free numbers this season are 19 and 24, worn by Kessie and Eric García respectively last season.