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?
10 isn’t dead exactly, it’s evolved in my opinion.
Out of possession, a lone striker on his own is easy to pass through, so ideally you want a 2 or 3 player front line out of possession.
The De Bruyne + Haaland link was originally formed with De Bruyne playing as a ‘10’. However, Haaland would cover the Left, De Bruyne the right. So out of possession it formed a 442. This made it seem like he wasn’t playing as a 10, as he was playing most of his time on the right, trying to whip that back post pass in to Haaland.
It was more like a false 9 role given how he was positioned in the press, but more or less a 10 in possession, which is effectively what a false 9 is.