Shirt numbers available to Lionel Messi at Manchester City

Manchester City continue to be strongly linked with a move for Barcelona attacker Lionel Messi.

The Argentina international has informed Barca of his desire to seek pastures new this summer, and City are regarded as the favourites to sign him during this summer's transfer window.

The deal to take the 33-year-old to the Etihad Stadium would allegedly cost £500m, though, and it remains to be seen whether Pep Guardiola's side can pull off what would be a stunning signing.

Messi is thought to be planning on returning to Barca training on Monday despite the speculation surrounding his future, but the attacker is clearly looking for a move away ahead of next season.

Here, Sports Mole looks at the shirt numbers available to the South American at City should he make the move to the Premier League outfit before the transfer deadline.

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Messi has worn the number 10 shirt for Barca since the 2008-09 campaign, while he has also primarily sported '10' for Argentina despite spells with the number 18 and number 19 earlier in his career with the national team.

The attacker also wore '19' and '30' for Barca in the very early stages of his time with the first team, but it would be fair to say that '10' is the South American's favoured number.

Interestingly, the number 10 shirt at City is currently held by Sergio Aguero, but there is some uncertainty surrounding the striker's future as his contract is due to expire next summer.

It would be a surprise to see Aguero leave the Etihad Stadium in the current market, but he would surely be prepared to hand over '10' to Messi if his fellow Argentine demanded the number upon his arrival.

Aguero has held the famous shirt since the 2015-16 campaign, though, and it would certainly be interesting to see what develops if Messi were to be intent on wearing '10' at the club.

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In terms of other numbers which could be suitable for the Barca attacker, the number seven and number nine shirts are currently held by Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus respectively.

Despite recent reports, Jesus will allegedly not be used as a makeweight in a bid for Messi as he is an important part of Guardiola's plans moving forward, especially with Aguero approaching the latter stages of his time at the club.

The number 11 is held by left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, though, and there is a possibility that could be an option for Messi, while the number 15, number 18 and number 19 are currently vacant at the club .

It seems incredibly unlikely that Messi would arrive and not sport one of the so-called glamorous numbers, though, and '10' is the one to watch closely as the transfer speculation continues to gather pace.