Four of Liverpool’s most iconic squad numbers were up for grabs at the start of the summer following some high-profile Anfield exits.
Having seen the number 10 shirt left vacant following Sadio Mane’s decision to leave for pastures new at Bayern Munich last summer, the number seven, eight, and nine jerseys all became available after James Milner, Naby Keita, and Roberto Firmino all left the club following the expiration of their contracts.
With all four vital to the success Jurgen Klopp’s side have achieved over the past five years, the quartet were all members of the Reds side that won every major honour on offer them, ending Liverpool’s 30-year drought to be crowned champions of England, and were crowned world champions for the first time in the club’s history months after their 2019 Champions League win.
Of course, even without such recent success, all four shirt numbers are the most celebrated in Anfield history. Adorned by some of the greatest Reds legends, such numbers are synonymous with the likes of Sir Kenny Dalglish, Steven Gerrard, Ian Rush, and John Barnes.
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As a result, Milner, Keita, Firmino, and Mane have all left the biggest shoes, or rather shirts, for their would-be successors to fill.
Liverpool have wasted no time in confirming new owners of three of their most celebrated shirts. New signings Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai have taken ownership of numbers 10 and eight respectively, while Luis Diaz has traded in his number 23 shirt in favour of the number illustrious seven.
But as things stand, the Reds’ number nine shirt remains vacant. There had been suggestions during the summer that Darwin Nunez would inherit the number following his maiden season at Anfield.
The Uruguayan wore number nine for Benfica, after all, while the digit features in his social media usernames. While he had to settle for ‘@Darwinn99’ on Twitter, with ‘Darwinn9’ already in possession of a Twitter used who signed up in July 2013, has nine followers and hasn't tweeted for 10 years, he was at least allowed to snap up ‘@darwin_n9’ on Instagram. Notice, the second ‘n’ means ‘number’, rather than the striker just spelling his own name incorrectly!
With Firmino already in possession of the number nine shirt when Nunez joined Liverpool last summer, and having already given up his initial number 11 shirt to Mohamed Salah five years earlier, the Uruguayan instead opted for the number 27 shirt. He is not the first player to opt for such a jersey in the absence of his favoured shirt, with the two digits at least adding together to make nine.
But now the number nine shirt is available. However, if Nunez has eyes on it, he hasn’t followed Diaz’s lead and taken ownership of it just yet.
The Uruguayan was back at the AXA Training Centre on Monday for the first day of pre-season training. Working hard in the gym and taking part in the 'lactate test' out on the pitch with Fabinho, Joe Gomez, and Joel Matip, his training wear all bore the number 27.
There is still time for Nunez to switch numbers if he wishes. For example, Gomez was only confirmed to be trading his number 12 shirt for the number two at the end of July last year, on the eve of the Community Shield clash with Man City.
But, for now at least, Darwin Nunez remains Liverpool’s number 27.
