{"id":82241,"date":"2026-09-07T20:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T20:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/82241\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T20:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T20:23:14","slug":"report-barcelona-star-refused-shirt-number-change-out-of-respect-for-departed-captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/82241\/","title":{"rendered":"Report &#8211; Barcelona star refused shirt number change out of respect for departed captain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2026\/27 season has seen a sea of changes as far as shirt numbers are concerned at FC Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Considering that a number of players departed and there were quite a few new arrivals, there has been quite a lot of movement in the squad numbers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, Fermin Lopez took the No. 7 shirt vacated by Ferran Torres, while Joan Garcia has succeeded Marc-Andre ter Stegen as Bar\u00e7a\u2019s new #1. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Interestingly, though, young Brian Farinas, who was handed a first-team registration this summer, has been given the No. 4 shirt, following Ronald Araujo\u2019s loan move to Liverpool.<\/p>\n<p>Eric Garcia refused No. 4 out of respect for Araujo<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, according to journalist <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/QueThiJugues\/status\/2096867085435420689\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Nil Sola on Que t\u2019hi Jugues<\/a>, Eric Garcia was offered the chance to wear the No. 4 shirt by Barcelona after Araujo\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the Spanish defender turned down the opportunity out of respect for his teammate, who was also the club captain before sealing his loan move to Anfield.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fc-barcelona-v-athletic-club-laliga-ea-sports-2026-27-13-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Rodri and Eric Garcia of Barcelona\" class=\"wp-image-212061\"  \/>Eric opted to continue with #24 instead of taking #4. (Photo by Alex Caparros\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As such, Eric stayed with his previous shirt number, #24, instead of moving to No. 4, which in turn was handed to 20-year-old Farinas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Garcia is held in very high regard at Barcelona, both by the players and the coaching staff, and gestures like these highlight why he is such a popular member in the locker room.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A permanent fixture in the lineup at right-back now, the 25-year-old defender has been named one of the club captains this season along with Raphinha, Pedri, Lamine Yamal, and Frenkie de Jong.<\/p>\n<p>No serious injury<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There was concern during Barcelona\u2019s match against Valencia on Sunday after Eric had to be substituted in the first half due to an injury following a collision with teammate Rodri.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/valencia-cf-v-fc-barcelona-laliga-ea-sports-2026-27-6-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Eric Garcia, Barcelona player\" class=\"wp-image-211967\"  \/>No serious injury to Eric. (Photo by David Ramos\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, it has since been confirmed that while the defender has a nasal fracture, the issue is not very serious, and he can continue playing while wearing a protective face mask.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, the 2026 FIFA World Cup winner <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-defender-already-back-in-training-and-will-play-against-levante-after-nose-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">trained normally with the team today<\/a>, although he will miss the UEFA Champions League match against Feyenoord due to suspension.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, as things stand, Eric is expected to available for Bar\u00e7a\u2019s next La Liga game against Levante later this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026\/27 season has seen a sea of changes as far as shirt numbers are concerned at FC&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,222,927,223,929],"class_list":["post-82241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-eric-garcia","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-ronald-araujo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}