Anthony Gordon's Potential Move to Barcelona: A Game Changer
Anthony Gordon is on the brink of a move that changes everything.
Barcelona are closing in on an €80 million (£69.3 million, $93.2 million) deal for the Newcastle United winger, a fee that would make him one of the headline transfers of the summer and the latest Englishman to test himself under the lights of Camp Nou.
The chase has been fierce. Bayern Munich circled. Arsenal and Liverpool made their interest known. Barcelona simply moved quicker and harder, determined not to miss out on a wide forward whose stock has rocketed over the past 18 months.
For Gordon, the pull is obvious. Camp Nou. La Liga. A club that still sells the idea of football as art. By the time England head to the 2026 World Cup in the coming weeks, his future is expected to be signed, sealed and announced in blaugrana.
If the deal goes through, he will become only the third Englishman ever to play for La Blaugrana. That alone carries weight. So does the number on his back.
From No. 70 to No. 10: Gordon’s winding shirt journey
Gordon’s career has never been tied to a single number. His story, in many ways, is written across a changing set of jerseys.
He started at Everton as No. 70 in the 2017–18 season, a teenager breaking through from the academy, more prospect than protagonist. Two seasons later he stepped closer to the core of the squad, moving to No. 42 as his role with the Toffees’ first team grew.
Then came a neat twist. In 2020–21, Gordon flipped those digits and took No. 24 for the first half of the campaign at Everton. When he went on loan to Preston North End for the second half of that season, he reverted to No. 42, the number that had first signalled he was more than just a kid on the fringes.
The real statement came next. Everton handed him the No. 10, the shirt traditionally reserved for creators and match-winners. It was the number he carried into his final season at Goodison Park and the one he would later claim again at Newcastle.
His first months at St James’ Park, though, required patience. With Allan Saint-Maximin still in possession of the 10, Gordon wore No. 8 in his debut season on Tyneside, waiting for his preferred number to free up. When it did, he took it. Another marker of his rising status.
With England, the pattern has been far less settled. International football rarely offers the same continuity, and Gordon has cycled through a range of numbers: 18, 17, 11 and 7 among them. Each camp, a new role. Each tournament, a new digit.
What awaits at Camp Nou
Barcelona will hand him fewer options. La Liga rules restrict first-team players to numbers between 1 and 25, so there is no room for the high academy numbers that framed his Everton breakthrough.
Yet there is still room for history.
The most glamorous vacancy is obvious: No. 9. Once Robert Lewandowski departs as a free agent this summer, the shirt worn by Luis Suárez, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldo will sit empty. It is the most iconic centre-forward jersey in Barcelona’s modern era, a number that demands goals and personality.
But there is a catch. Barcelona plan to bring in a new striker and are expected to keep No. 9 clear for their next spearhead. The club see that shirt as a statement in itself, a centrepiece of their rebuild.
So Gordon’s gaze will likely fall elsewhere.
Right now, No. 12 and No. 14 are open. The latter carries its own echo in Catalonia after Marcus Rashford wore it during his loan spell, and of course it carries the weight of Johan Cruyff in Barcelona folklore. For a wide forward with flair and work-rate, it feels like a natural fit.
Other doors could soon open. If Ferran Torres moves on, the No. 7 becomes available – a winger’s number with a touch of swagger. If Andreas Christensen leaves, No. 15 frees up. João Cancelo’s loan ending will also vacate No. 2, an unconventional choice for an attacker but one that would certainly stand out.
For now, those are hypotheticals, shaped by a summer of exits and arrivals still to come. What is certain is that Gordon will not have the luxury of a sprawling range. Within that tight 1–25 band, every number carries a story, a lineage, an expectation.
He has worn 70, 42, 24, 8, 10. He has carried 7, 11, 17 and 18 for his country. At Barcelona, the choice will say as much about how the club see him as how he sees himself.
Is he the new 14, stepping into a line of creative disruptors? A 7, tasked with stretching defences and scoring big goals on big nights? Or does he rip up convention and make a less glamorous number his own?
The fee is huge. The stage is bigger. The shirt he pulls on in Catalonia will be the final, visible sign that Anthony Gordon has stepped into a different footballing world – and intends to stay there.
