I was watching a Messi and Zidane interview on YouTube. Zidane said the number 10 is not as important as it used to to be. The place and position of the number 10 are gone. He used 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 as an example, which are perhaps the two most used formations in football. Messi then agreed by saying there aren’t many 10 left and the position that shows such player is the leader, the midfielder, and the link player is gone.
It seems like the number is being handed to the superstars and to promote and advertise such players. Ansu Fati had no business wearing 10 for Barcelona. While Mabappe wears 10 for France, Griezmann is actually their 10. Rashford in Man United is not a 10. I could go on.
When Messi and Neymar retires from national team duty, Jude Bellingham seems to be the only young player to fill that void.
What do you guys think?
This post is really hard to understand, number 10 as in position is slowly fading away yes but in assigning number 10 as a jersey number is an old concept, I would say before 2000s era it was usually based off the position the player plays (rarely)… The weight of the jersey number is such a huge thing now because it has historical connotation attached to it…so now the number 7s and 10s are given to important forward players regardless of whether the player is winger/striker/midfielder. It can be any number depending on the club.
It is not that they don’t have any business wearing the number, that is just wrong understanding of this whole conversation. The club provides the number just so they feel they’re important, it has no specific position to play it gives the player the sense of “you’re an important player for our club” tag It is indeed business oriented but the players have shown something to be rewarded with the number so I don’t think there’s an issue there with what the player has to wear, jersey number wise. Btw Griezmann wears 7 because his idol growing up was Beckham. Thus, the long sleeves not because Mbappe wanted 10 (for France).