Ilkay Gundogan potential shirt numbers at Barcelona
By Sean Walsh
After months of thinking and mulling, considering and contemplating, it appears as though Ilkay Gundogan has decided his future.
90min understands Barcelona are finalising a deal to sign the German on a free transfer from Manchester City.
Gundogan will sign off from the Citizens having captained them to the treble, becoming the first skipper in their history to lift the UEFA Champions League.
Here are the shirt numbers Gundogan could wear on his new adventure in Barcelona.
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Ilkay Gundogan shirt number history
Gundogan has used a wide variety of numbers throughout his long and illustrious career.
He took the 35 shirt when he first broke through at Bochum, before moving onto 22 during a three-year stint at Nurnberg.
During his first season at Borussia Dortmund, Gundogan adorned number 21, before switching to 8 for the remainder of his time at Signal-Iduna Park. This is the same number he has used at Man City.
At international level, Gundogan has largely worn the number 21 as he did in his first year at Dortmund.
In his younger days, he also wore numbers 2, 14 and 19 for the senior team.
Barcelona available shirt numbers
La Liga rules permit that senior squad players can only wear numbers between 1 and 25, which will limit Gundogan's options.
The following numbers are currently unfilled at Barcelona: 2, 3, 12, 14, 16 and 25.
None of the numbers Gundogan has used most recently in his career are available, while there are only two options available to him which he wore in his younger days: 2 and 14.
Given 2 is usually a defender's number, it's more likely that Gundogan settles on 14.
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