De Jong to wear Luis Enrique's No.21 and Alena will take Messi's No.19

Posted Tuesday, July 16, 2019 by Marca.com

There are no more doubts surrounding Frenkie de Jong's number at Barcelona as he will don the No.21 shirt after Carles Alena agreed to hand it over to the new signing.

Instead, Alena will now wear the No.19 that became vacant once Kevin-Prince Boateng's loan spell came to an end on June 30.

On Sunday, it was confirmed that Antoine Griezmann will have No.17 on his back, while Neto will be No.13.

Barcelona's other No.21s and No.19s

Since names on the back of shirts became compulsory in 1995/96, a total of eight players have worn the No.21 while 13 have donned the No.19.

De Jong joins a list of No.21s who have had mixed success at the Camp Nou, but the standout name is Luis Enrique. The eight players who have worn it are: Robert Prosinecki, Luis Enrique, Lilian Thuram, Aleksandr Hleb, Dmytro Chygrynskiy, Adriano Correia, Andre Gomes and, of course, Alena.

For the No.19, it is a number synonymous with Lionel Messi's emergence into becoming a global superstar, following his beginnings with the No.30 shirt. The players who have donned the No.19 are: Lluis Carreras, Juan Antonio Pizzi, Patrick Kluivert, Dani Garcia, Fernando Navarro, Messi, Maxwell, Martin Montoya, Ibrahim Afellay, Sandro Ramirez, Lucas Digne, Munir El Haddadi and Boateng.