Liverpool could find themselves with a new number nine this summer after claims on social media that Darwin Nunez is set to inherit the famous shirt.
Roberto Firmino’s exit this summer has made the number available once more, with the Brazilian having adorned it ever since Mohamed Salah joined the club in the summer of 2017.
Having worn the shirt for Benfica, it would be no surprise if Nunez did indeed switch numbers for the new season. Wearing number 27 in his first campaign at Anfield, he also wouldn’t be the first striker to choose such a number in the absence of an available number nine, due to two and seven adding up to make nine.
Of course, with the famous number seven and eight shirts also available, Nunez might not be the only player who could swap numbers this summer. Luis Diaz to succeed James Milner, anyone?
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Some shirt numbers mean the world to players, with Alexis Mac Allister overlooking number eight to take ownership of the number 10 at Liverpool. Wearing it at Brighton and earlier in his career, its importance is clear to the Argentina international considering he heralds from a country that produced two of the greatest number 10s the game has ever seen in Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi.
Of course, other players aren’t too fussed. Jamie Carragher and Trent Alexander-Arnold were first handed 23 and 66 respectively, and those were the numbers they stuck with as the pair became synonymous with such digits.
But with number changes in mind, we’ve taken a look at the exclusive (but long!) list of Liverpool players who did trade in their original jerseys, along with their reasons why…
The goalkeepers
First up, the goalkeepers. Nothing really groundbreaking here. When Jerzy Dudek and Alisson Becker joined the club in 2001 and 2018 respectively, the traditional number one shirts were already allocated. As a result, they were forced to opt for different digits and adopted number 12 and number 13 instead.
But after a season, once the number one did become available, both shop-stoppers wasted no time in trading in. Of course, the knock-on effect of Alisson taking the number one at the expense of Loris Karius, who had joined Besiktas on loan, was the German switching to number 22 upon his return to Anfield when a permanent exit was not forthcoming.
David James made a similar switch when Premier League squad numbers were first introduced ahead of the 1993/94 season. With Bruce Grobbelaar initially number one, he wore 13 before succeeding the Zimbabwean the following summer.
Multiple swaps
Now a number of former Liverpool players have been allocated more than two squad numbers during their Reds careers, having progressed from the club’s Academy. But we’re going to overlook the majority, with many often not even making appearances in their first shirt numbers, to instead focus on the two main ‘treble holders’.
Steven Gerrard was of course number 28 when he broke into the Liverpool side in 1998/99, before trading to 17 in time for the start of the 2000/01 treble season. Yet he seemingly always had number eight on his mind, and took ownership of it in the summer of 2004 following Emile Heskey’s exit.
Meanwhile, Robbie Fowler first wore number 23 when breaking into the Reds first team in 1993/94, before succeeding Ian Rush as Liverpool’s number nine in the summer of 1996. Departing for Leeds United in November 2001 only to return in January 2006, Djibril Cisse was the owner of the number shirt upon the striker’s return. As a result, he briefly wore number 11, before reclaiming his old number that summer following the Frenchman’s loan exit.
It’s a team game
Football is a team game and some players selflessly hand over their own shirts number at the request of new team-mates, before adopting a new number themselves.
Firmino is the most obvious example, having worn 11 after first joining Liverpool in the summer of 2015. Yet two years later, Salah asked for the number after his own Reds switch, so the Brazilian gave it up and switched to number nine instead.
The same happened to Vladimir Smicer and Jay Spearing when Harry Kewell and Charlie Adam joined the club in 2003 and 2011 respectively. With their new team-mates asking for seven and 26, the pair stepped aside and took ownership of the number 11 and 20 jerseys.
Youngster Cameron Brannagan also gave up his number 32 shirt and switched to 25 in the summer of 2016, so Joel Matip could take on the shirt he had worn throughout his career at Schalke.
Andrea Dossena also gave up the number two shirt following the signing of Glen Johnson in the summer of 2009, though the Italian might not have had much say on this one. He had been deemed surplus to requirements after all, but having to wait half a season for an Anfield exit, he briefly wore number 38 before leaving for Napoli.
Get me in the XI
Sometimes players are just traditionalists and want numbers that are in the first 11, though some are admittedly more glamorous than others.
For example, both Michael Owen and Sadio Mane would snap up the number 10 shirt as soon as it became available, trading in their respective number 18 and 19 jerseys in the process. Likewise, Steven McManaman and Jamie Redknapp joined Fowler in taking numbers in the main 11 in the summer of 1996, inheriting seven and 11 respectively after previously wearing 17 and 15.
Last summer Joe Gomez traded his number 12 shirt for the number two, while Sami Hyypia and John Arne Riise initially wore 12 and 18 respectively, before taking ownership of four and six.
And spare a thought for Fabio Aurelio. Initially a number 12 but plagued by injury, he was released by Rafa Benitez in the summer of 2010, only to be re-signed by new manager Roy Hodgson. Fancying a change and fresh start, in hope of better luck on the injury front, he took over number six. It did not have the desired effect.
Favourite numbers
Some players do have their favoured numbers, however random they might initially appear, and predominantly adorn them throughout their careers. Yet upon arrival at Anfield, sometimes such digits are not initially available.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain wore 15 at Arsenal, but spent his first two seasons at Liverpool as their number 21 before Daniel Sturridge’s exit opened the door to his favoured number in the summer of 2019.
Bolo Zenden, Alvaro Arbeloa, Yossi Benayoun, and Maxi Rodriguez also all had to be patient too to get their favoured numbers. The Dutchman wore number 30 during his first season at Anfield before switching to 32, while the Spaniard had six months as a number two before getting his hands on the number 17 shirt.
Meanwhile, both the Israeli and the Argentine had a season as a number 11, or half-a-season in Maxi’s case, before switching to their favoured 15 and 17 shirts respectively.
Enjoying two stints at Anfield, Craig Bellamy initially wore 17 during the 2006/07 season at Liverpool before being moved on. Upon his return in the summer of 2011, he had made the number 39 shirt his own elsewhere, so took ownership of that at Anfield.
And then there is Mamadou Sakho. A number three at Paris Saint-Germain, he wore number 17 for his first three seasons at Liverpool before getting his hands on his favoured jersey. Alas, ownership occurred the same summer as his infamous falling out with Jurgen Klopp, so he never actually got to run out wearing it for the Reds.
Current swappers
A look at the current Liverpool squad and you will see that both Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott are on their second Reds number. The former was initially number 48, before switching to 17 in the summer of 2020 as he perhaps looks to replicate Gerrard’s path to the number eight shirt.
Meanwhile, his England Under-21s team-mate took on the number 67 when first joining the club, in reference to the famous number seven shirt, before trading in for number 19 last summer.
Best of the rest
We can’t give you much explanation here, beyond players just switching things up for lower numbers.
Neil Ruddock wore 25 before trading to 14, with Danny Murphy a number 24 before adopting his synonymous number 13 jersey, while Steve Harkness wore 22 before switching to 12. Djimi Traore initially wore 30 before switching to 21, Salif Diao wore 21 before taking on 15, and Anthony Le Tallec was a number 20 before adopting number 13.
It perhaps makes a little more sense for youngsters Emiliano Insua, Nabil El Zhar, Damien Plessis, Daniel Pacheco, and Jordon Ibe, having initially been handed higher numbers.
With the Argentine 48, the Moroccan 42, and the Frenchman and Spaniard 47, they would later take on the 22, 28, 31, and 12 jerseys respectively. Meanwhile, Ibe would trade 44 for the number 33 shirt.
The odd one out
And then there is the odd one out. Andy Carroll. He wore the number nine shirt after replacing Fernando Torres at Liverpool in January 2011, yes?
In the Premier League, yes. But not in Europe. With the Spaniard already allocated number nine for the Europa League in 2010/11, Carroll had to select something else for the rest of that continental campaign. He’d be allocated the number 29 shirt, but only wore it twice as Kenny Dalglish’s side were eliminated by Braga.
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