Dani Alvés will be Barça’s new number ‘6’. The Brazilian international will inherit the number that Xavi Hernández used for more than a decade at the Catalan club.
This is not the first time that Alves changed his squad number at Barça. Following Abidal’s departure, Alves changed from the number ‘2’ shirt to wearing the ‘22’ which was the Brazilian’s tribute to the French player who had overcome cancer to make a return to professional football.
Both Barça ‘B’ players, Sandro and Munir have been allocated first team squad numbers and they will use numbers ‘16’ and ’17’ respectively. New club signings, Arda and Aleix Vidal, have no squad numbers assigned as yet due to the FIFA ban imposed on the club which means that no new players can be registered until January 1, 2016. Despite rumours of an imminent move to Manchester United, Canary Islander Pedro has been given his number ‘7’ shirt as per last season.