Lamine Yamal received Barcelona's iconic no. 10 shirt prior to the 2025-26 season, in the footsteps of some legendary figures.
The graduated academy of La Masia Academy is clearly not stunned by following some of the greatest football players in history, including perhaps the very best of all.
We have arranged the last eight players to carry the Barcelona no.10 sweater from the worst to the best.
Cuellar, graduated in Betis Academy, moved to the Nou -Camp in 1995 and became the first Barcelona player to officially assign the No.10 shirt in La Liga.
But he has passed a disastrous debut, with a front cruciate ligament injury that kept him on the sidelines for less than six months.
The attacker scored two goals in 15 performances in the second half of the season, but then lost the number 10 shirt prior to 1996-97. He spent a year with the No.11 before he returned to Betis.
Litmanen played under Van Gaal in Ajax and brought in contact with the manager in 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 in Barcelona.
“You have to adapt to a new culture when you move to another club,” Van Gaal would later say about Litmanen. “Not every player can do that.”
The former Finland International lost the number 10 shirt at the end of its first season and then entered Liverpool with a free transfer in January 2001.
Once called the 'next Diego Maradona', Riquelme followed in his footsteps by leaving Boca Juniors for Barcelona in 2002.
The former International Argentina arrived in the midst of high expectations, only for Van Gaal to reveal that he had forced him as a “political signing” before he used the naturally born no. 10 as a winger.
He struggled for consistency during his only season in the Nou camp and was considered surplus against requirements after the arrival of Ronaldinho, where he came to Villarreal for a two-year loan agreement.
Riquelme then rediscovered his best shape with the yellow submarine and made the move permanent in 2005.
“Why not triumph in Barca? Because he had a Dickhead as Van Gaal as his coach,” said Hristo Stoichkov Radio Impacto in 2020. “It's clear, right?
“He did not succeed because Van Gaal put him on the field. But he still enjoyed the first year in Barcelona.
“I enjoyed his goals, passing, playing, stepping, but if someone comes to invent it one of something else, it is impossible.”
Read: a tribute to Juan Roman Riquelme, one of the best and true no. 10 of football
The 22-year-old had a few moments after inheriting the No.10 shirt from Messi.
He has sometimes been useful as a replacement, but received limited starts, and eventually denied injuries to reach him that achieved the frightening potential that he first demonstrated when he exploded on the stage a few years ago.
“I experienced Ansu Fati's matter in my own body,” colleague La Masia graduated Bojan Krkic to Marca.
“You generate a lot of enthusiasm at a time when the club needs a 'product' from La Masia. And I don't like to say it because I like to hear it, but that's how we are treated.”
Not the midfielder who later played for Manchester City and Hull City, Giovanni was one of the first Barcelona signing sessions by Bobby Robson in 1996.
The former international Brazil was initially overshadowed by fellow countryman Ronaldo, but still produced some iconic moments, including three match winners against Real Madrid.
His best season came to the club during his second year, where he scored an impressive 18 goals in all competitions.
Things became sour, as it did for many over the years, when Van Gaal took over and he left the club for Olympiacos in 1999.
“Van Gaal is the Hitler of the Brazilian players; he is arrogant, proud and has a problem,” said Giovanni in 2010.
“My life with him was terrible, the Brazilians did not want him, he put me down and also fought with Rivaldo and Sonny Anderson. He always gave us the excuse that we are not training well.
“I know he needs to have trauma, he has no idea of football, knows nothing, in the time I was with him, he always did the same training, his type is sick, he is crazy.”
After he had worn the No.11 shirt in Barcelona during his first three years, Rivaldo then received the prestigious no. 10 after the departure of Litmanen in 2000.
The attacking midfielder then had his best season on an individual level and scored 36 goals, including a stunning hat trick against Valencia that helped Barcelona when clumping Champions League qualification.
He spent another season in the Nou -camp, but was released early after his contract after the return of Van Gaal to the Dugout in 2002.
Read: rivaldo: The story of a great player in a not so great Barcelona team
After the leading role for Paris Saint-Germain, Ronaldinho Manchester United rejected and decided in 2003 to sign for Barcelona in a £ 21 million deal.
The Brazilian arrived at a club that had just finished sixth in La Liga and transformed their fortune, two competition titles and the Champions League won the next five years.
He entertained the fans with his skills and also developed into one of the best players in the world and won the Ballon d'Or prize in 2005.
But his notorious love for parties eventually demanded his toll and Pep Guardiola made the brave decision to sell the attacker to AC Milan in 2008.
“Ronaldinho was responsible for the change in Barca,” Lionel Messi said later. “It was a bad time, and the change that came about with his arrival was great.
“In the first year he won nothing, but people fell in love with him. Then the trophies started to come and made all those people happy. Barca should always be grateful for everything he did.”
Read: a forensic analysis of the night Ronaldinho had real fans on their feet
'Before you leave the club [Ronaldinho] A few months came out where he thought of things, “Messi Barca TV told in 2015.
“He had it in mind that he left and he told me that I should have his number. I took it without looking at what he had done with the shirt. If I did, I wouldn't have taken it.”
The rest is, as they say, history.
Read more: The five players Barcelona drew alongside Ronaldinho and how they did it