Sergio Aguero Turned Down Chance to Take Lionel Messi’s No 10 Shirt at Barcelona | Here's Why

Former Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero was offered Barcelona’s famous number ten jersey following the departure of six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi from the Catalan giants. Messi left Barca to join Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in August in the Summer Transfer window. The shock exit of the Argentine great opened up the options to carry the number ten shirt in the Barca team. Following Messi’s exit, Aguero and Philippe Coutinho were reportedly offered the iconic jersey. However, Aguero turned down the chance to wear the number ten shirt out of respect for his friend and national teammate, Messi.

Aguero recently explained his decision to not don the number ten during a social media session with Twitch streamer Ibai Llanos.“Refusing to wear the number 10 shirt at Barcelona?” Aguero said, before adding, “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but it was out of respect for Messi.”

Aguero signed a two-year deal with the La Liga giants in May from Manchester City on a free transfer. The Argentine striker had joined the Barca squad with the hope to line up next to his fellow countrymen. But, in an interesting turn of events, weeks after his arrival, Messi left the Spanish team to play in Ligue 1.

Aguero has not played a single game for Barca since his arrival in May. He has been ruled out from the Barcelona squad due to injury and is expected to return in the next month.

Meanwhile, Barca has handed the number 10 shirt to their teenage sensation, Ansu Fati. The La Liga club confirmed the owner of their number ten in a social media post by sharing a video of Fati with his new shirt.“Our new number 10, Made in La Masia,” Barca captioned the video on Twitter.

Fati had previously donned number 22 and 17. Now the young striker will wear number ten for Barca, a jersey previously worn by the likes of Messi, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Assembly Elections Live Updates here.