I was watching a Messi and Zidane interview on YouTube. Zidane said the number 10 is not as important as it used to to be. The place and position of the number 10 are gone. He used 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 as an example, which are perhaps the two most used formations in football. Messi then agreed by saying there aren’t many 10 left and the position that shows such player is the leader, the midfielder, and the link player is gone.
It seems like the number is being handed to the superstars and to promote and advertise such players. Ansu Fati had no business wearing 10 for Barcelona. While Mabappe wears 10 for France, Griezmann is actually their 10. Rashford in Man United is not a 10. I could go on.
When Messi and Neymar retires from national team duty, Jude Bellingham seems to be the only young player to fill that void.
What do you guys think?
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Ian Wright Wright Wright wore number 8
Zidane himself wore 5
Vieira wore 4
Idk what this post is tbh?
By 10, OP is referring to attacking midfielders. Same way a 9 is a striker or 1 a keeper.
Nah OP literally states “it seems like the number is being handed to”
So he does think only “10s” should have 10 on the back of their shirt
I think the ‘luxary’ 10 died a long time ago, the ones the just create and dont do much else. Ozil, Le Tiss etc. 10s just have to work harder now. De Bruyne, Bruno, Odergaard are all 10s and all do a full midfielders shift.
This is the correct answer. 👏
And it’s not just the ‘luxary 10’, at every position players are expected to be able to do more things. The ‘luxury GK’ who only stops shots died too.
Football doesn’t evolve, nothing dies forever, numbers 10s will be back one day.
It’s just been rebranded as the false 9. Calm down.
Lol the false 9 was invented in the 1930s
What are you chatting.
Not dead just has adapted, you need to be able to press and defend.
If you’re wasting so much energy chasing the ball, thats not a 10 then
Dude Bellingham is literally getting called a “false-10”
Football is always changing and certain things come and go out of fashion. The 10 will be back before we know it. Honestly the only real 10s I can think of now are Musiala and Maddison. Its a shame but you just can’t waste a position there now with so much focus on full backs out wide.
Plenty of players still wear 10 on their shirt. How could a shirt number be ″dead″?
They are talking about something very specific. The trequartista in Italy, enganche in Argentina. Basically a genius playmaker behind 2 strikers that does absolutely no defending at all. A Platini, Baggio, Riquelme type. They are certainly romantic types of players, but all it really says about the game is that the level is so high now a team can’t entirely carry 3 guys defensively who don’t even provide width.
Jude is doing it for Madrid though. Carlo knows.
Ehhh Bellingham is not a #10
He wasn’t. Carlo is playing him like one.
There aren’t many old school 10s anymore - because, well it’s old school. The era of 10s like Zizou, Ronaldinho, Messi, Maradona, Okocha, Juninho, Ortega, Riquelme etc… i.e. flair players - has finished. The technique those guys had and the capability to perform in big games is unmatched by most players these days.
I think football is less positional in the sense it was 20 years ago. If you view a 10 as a position on the pitch any team playing 4231 plays a 10. If you view it as a role then there’s a number of players who qualify, de bruyne and Maddison are creative hubs that link the midfield to the attack.
I think it’s funny because Zidane hasn’t used a 10
We’re just going to ignore his France duty huh?
It is true.
Are you talking about the role or the shirt number ?
Because you mention in the first paragraph the place and position but that has never being stable really. Many great number 10s haven’t played in the pocket. Messi was deployed on the right or as a False 9. Zidane at Madrid played on the left with Guti being the guy in the traditional number 10 slot. Ozil a modern example played often on the left of a front 3 instead of as a CAM. KDB has played as a winger, CAM, F9 and CM for Man City but very much is the primary playmaker when on the pitch.
If we are talking about the number that has never really being a thing. Historically 433 and 442 have being the most dominant formations and neither have at traditional number 10 in them. Often many iconic number 10 played off the left or as part of a front 2. This means lots of 10s throughout history have not being the primary playmakers of their teams. Man Utd for example - Rashord, Sherringham, Van Nistelrooy, hell even Keane and Scholes have worn it. The number 10 doesn’t really stand for anything but it is an iconic shirt number that some of the greats have worn and therefore kids growing up wanted to wear it. Those kids inspire more kids to wear it and so on.
Roman was the last 10.