Barcelona signing Antoine Griezmann to wear number 17 shirt, Philippe Coutinho keeps No. 7
Antoine Griezmann has been handed the number 17 shirt at Barcelona after signing from Atletico Madrid on Friday.
The French forward completed a €120 transfer from Atleti as Barca paid his release clause on Friday and was presented at Camp Nou on Sunday evening.
Ahead of that event, which took place behind closed doors due to ongoing work on a new pitch at Barca's stadium, the club revealed he will be wearing the number 17 in 2019-20.
Griezmann wore the number 7 at Real Sociedad and also at Atletico Madrid, but that jersey currently belongs to Philippe Coutinho at Barcelona.
The Brazilian was handed the number 14 when he signed in January last year and Barca held back the 7 shirt for Griezmann, with the French forward expected to arrive in the summer.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">🔥<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/AntoGriezmann?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-4189566-https://twitter.com/AntoGriezmann?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" data-vars-event-id="c23">@AntoGriezmann</a> 🔥<br /> Our new number 1⃣7⃣<br /> 🔵🔴<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Griezmann17?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-4189566-https://twitter.com/hashtag/Griezmann17?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" data-vars-event-id="c23">#Griezmann17</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/hvlge0YVYy" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-4189566-https://t.co/hvlge0YVYy" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/hvlge0YVYy</a> — FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/FCBarcelona/status/1150444990612594689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-4189566-https://twitter.com/FCBarcelona/status/1150444990612594689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" data-vars-event-id="c23">July 14, 2019</a>
But when the player changed his mind and decided to stay at Atletico, Coutinho took the number 7 and the Brazilian looks set to wear it for Barca next season after his agent said on Saturday that the Catalans had no plans to sell the midfielder.
"The number 7 was already taken," Griezmann said at his presentation. "In the family we voted and decided I would take 17."
