Barcelona have confirmed that new signing Vitor Roque will wear the number 19 shirt for the remainder of the season.
The Catalan giants paid an initial €30m to sign Roque from Athletico Paranaense during the summer and, after finding a way to make the deal worth within La Liga’s financial regulations, brought the 18-year-old over this winter and finalised his signing.
After being presented to fans, Roque has now received his new shirt number, taking over the vacant 19 for the next six months at least.
It was speculated weeks ago that Roque would take the 19. He wore 9 with Athletico but that number is taken by Robert Lewandowski at Camp Nou, and so the teenager has accepted this new shirt.
Roque is not currently registered with La Liga but Barcelona are said to be hopeful of getting the deal over the line in the coming days, perhaps ahead of Thursday’s La Liga clash with Las Palmas.
The 19 shirt has been without a permanent owner for a good few years now. The last player to pull on the shirt was midfielder Franck Kessie, who spent last season in the jersey before departing for Al Ahli.
Kessie took over from Ferran Torres, who wore 19 for six months after joining in January 2022, and the number was only free at that point after Sergio Aguero had to give it up following his shock retirement earlier that season.
Matheus Fernandes’ solitary appearance for Barcelona came with the 19 on his back during 2020/21, and Martin Braithwaite spent most of 2020 as the team’s 19. He took it after Carles Alena had it for six months, which came after Kevin-Prince Boateng and Munir El Haddadi shared it in 2018/19. Keeping up?
Left-back Lucas Digne was the last player to spend significant time in the 19 shirt, taking it on between 2016 and 2018.
Other former wearers of the 19 shirt at Barcelona include Sandro Ramirez, Ibrahim Afellay, Martin Montoya, Maxwell and… oh, Lionel Messi.
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