The New Cruyff? Philippe Coutinho's Barcelona Squad Number Revealed
Philippe Coutinho will wear the historic number 14 shirt for Barcelona, the club have revealed.
The Brazilian joined Barca for a world record fee of £142m from Liverpool earlier this month, though he has yet to feature for the Catalan club after a thigh injury was discovered during his medical.
🔵🔴 @Phil_Coutinho's Barça squad number has been confirmed!#Coutinho14https://t.co/LfKAORZVuz
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 24, 2018
The news, announced on the club's website on Wednesday evening, that Coutinho's squad number has now been assigned however, suggests that a first appearance in the famous red and blue shirts may not be far away.
In taking the number 14 shirt for Barca, Coutinho follows in the footsteps of the likes of Thierry Henry, Javier Mascherano and - most famously - Dutch legend Johan Cruyff.
📷 🇧🇷 Bem-vindo! Great to see @Phil_Coutinho training with his new Barça team-mates today! 🔵🔴 #ForçaBarça pic.twitter.com/hw6iGHCJKB
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 20, 2018
The number was only vacated by Mascherano on when his move to Chinese Super League Hebei China Fortune was announced earlier on Wednesday, meaning it could be possible that Barca had the number earmarked for Coutinho in the knowledge that Mascherano departure after seven and a half years at the club was imminent.
Coutinho, whose departure from Liverpool left the number 10 shirt vacant at Anfield, has never previously worn the number 14 shirt in his career.
