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Arda Turan says Lionel Messi offered to concede his number 10 shirt

David Ramos/Getty Images

Apparently Arda Turan is already close to his new Barcelona teammates. He's even cracking jokes with the best player in the world.

In an interview to Turkish outlet NTV Sport, the former Atlético Madrid midfielder talked about his arrival at the Blaugrana club, and one of the main questions regarded his shirt number. He used to wear number 10 at Atleti, but it will be kind of difficult to get that at Barça, since that one belongs to Lionel Messi.

Or maybe it won't be hard, because Messi will give it to him.

"Messi has told me he'll give me the #10 if I want to [laughs]. In all seriousness, I haven't decided yet. In the Turkish national team I started wearing the number 14 because my father was a big Johan Cruyff fan. But since I can't play until January, I don't need to decide it right now."

Source: NTV Sport via MD

That's actually a funny joke, and Arda seems like a nice guy to be around. Hopefully his chemistry on the pitch will be as good as it looks off it.

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