Arda Turan says Lionel Messi offered to concede his number 10 shirt

Barcelona’s new signing Arda Turan has revealed that Argentine superstar Lionel Messi has offered to give him his number 10 shirt for the upcoming campaign, Spanish paper Diario Sport report.

“I never got to watch Cruyff, but he was my fathers hero, the only shirt number I played with that I actually picked was the number 14 to make my father happy,” Turan said.

The Turkish midfielder, a €41m arrival from Atletico Madrid earlier in the summer, has not yet been assigned a squad number due to his ineligibility until January in light of La Blaugrana’s FIFA-imposed transfer embargo.

That imposition did not make his unveiling at the Nou Camp any less joyous.

You have to doubt that, even if he said it was OK, Barcelona would switch Messi’s number, given the history he has already created while wearing it.

“Galatasaray didn’t try to take me on loan”, the 28-year-old told reporters at an event in Istanbul on Saturday. I came to fight and I want to be one of the cogs of the team.