In the early 1990s, before the Premier League era, there were no such thing as squad numbers. Players starting a match simply wore numbers from one to eleven. As the years have gone by, fans have become accustomed to other shirt numbers. These have been synonymous with their favourite players. At Liverpool, former defender Jamie Carragher wore the number 23. Current Real Madrid manager and former Champions League winner with Liverpool, Xabi Alonso, wore number 14. Yet this season, some Liverpool players have been given very strange shirt numbers.
The total of the numbers on the back of six new Liverpool players is a staggering 345. This is a shirt number sequence going from 55 to 60. The reason behind is not player choice. It is actually to do with the club being more busy signing players, than allocating each player an official squad number for the new season. New signing Florian Wirtz had a preference for the number 10 jersey, but that is already worn by Alexis Mac Allister. It has meant that Wirtz is set for an unusual Liverpool shirt number. In pre-season, he will be wearing a stranger one still.
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Unusual numbers at Liverpool
Six new players wearing high shirt numbers in pre-season
florian wirtz
Traditionally, Liverpool attacking players have worn the traditional numbers associated with such roles. Robbie Fowler and Fernando Torres wore number nine, while Michael Owen wore number 10. However, during Liverpool's pre-season games, Wirtz will wear the number 58 jersey. Then, when the season begins, he looks set to wear the number 27 shirt. But before that is confirmed, he'll have to settle for these temporary digits, like five other teammates.
New Liverpool signings' shirt numbers
Giorgi Mamardashvili
Freddie Woodman
Milos Kerkez
Florian Wirtz
Jeremie Frimpong
Armin Pecsi
Giorgi Mamardashvili, Freddie Woodman and Armin Pecsi are all new goalkeepers at Anfield. As they await their squad numbers, they will wear the 55, 56 and 60 shirts respectively. Players have worn unusual shirt numbers by choice in the past. There is a long list of the strangest squad numbers in football history. Former Liverpool man Trent Alexander-Arnold famously wore the number 66 while playing for the club.
While Declan Rice wore the number 41 at West Ham and still does for Arsenal. Like Alexander-Arnold, the number was given to him at random as a youngster, and he grew to like it. Whether Milos Kerkez feels his debut performance in Liverpool's 3-0 win over Preston was special enough to wear the number 57 full-time remains unclear.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot likely won't care what numbers his players wear as long as they hit similarly high numbers. They will look to defend the English league title for the first time since doing so by winning it in 1983 and 1984.
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