Frenkie de Jong will wear the number 21 for his first season at FC Barcelona.
Carles Aleñá gave up his old number to make the move to 19, which was recently vacated by Kevin-Prince Boateng. The change will allow De Jong to wear the same number with Barça that he had at Ajax.
By the numbers
Since jersey numbers became season-long assignations in 1995-96, eight Barça players have worn the number 21. De Jong thus becomes the ninth, following the likes of Robert Prosinecki, Luis Enrique — who had it for eight seasons — Lillian Thuram, Alexander Hleb, Dmytro Chygrynskiy, Adriano Correia, André Gomes, and Aleñá.
A total of 13 players have worn the number 19: Lluís Carreras, Juan Antonio Pizzi, Patrick Kluivert, Dani Garcia, Fernando Navarro, Leo Messi (which he wore for two and a half seasons before taking number 10), Maxwell, Martín Montoya, Ibrahim Afellay, Sandro Ramírez, Lucas Digne, Munir El Haddadi, and Boateng.
Jsmooth
207
In other news: 🤣🤣
Akechandy
143
Mosanya
76
Good Luck De Jong, hole this shirt brings you success, and your goal in life, you are a amazing and talented player with great ambitions in life, I hope to see you play well, good luck de jong, wish you Best of luvk
ben9ice
68
I hope Alena get more mins next season
Longlife2000
44
💥 New numbers: Frenkie de Jong 2️⃣1️⃣ Carles Aleñá 1️⃣9️⃣
YourHighness
39
I hope Alena does great things with the number 19 just as Messi did with the number 19. I also hope De Jong has the same form he did with Ajax with his number 21. Mes un Club