There has been a lot of discussion about squad numbers this summer; James Milner sparked mild controversy by choosing our famous number seven shirt, while Danny Ings refused to take a low number, claiming that he first needed to prove himself as a Liverpool player.
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The likes of Nathaniel Clyne and Roberto Firmino are still awaiting confirmation over which squad number they will receive – with the numbers one, two, five, eight and elven among those that are still available.
In the list below, we’ve constructed a 25-man Liverpool squad utilising the best player to wear each respective number during the Premier League era…
1) Bruce Grobbelaar
A number that has primarily been worn by Liverpool number two’s in recent years, with Reina and Mignolet both favouring higher numbers. The likes of Diego Cavalieri and Brad Jones can’t touch our European Cup winner.
2) Alvaro Arbeloa
Nathaniel Clyne will no doubt be expecting to take up this mantle from Glen Johnson. However, it’s the Spaniard who despite only two years at Anfield gets the honour in our squad. Rob Jones and Stephane Henchoz miss out.
3) Steve Finnan
Jose Enrique has been hiding this shirt under the table tennis table for the last couple of years, so it should come as no real surprise that the Irishman gets the nod. Abel Xavier and Paul Konchesky were other memorable owners.
4) Sami Hyypia
There have been few better defenders in Liverpool’s history than the big Finn. Aquilani, Raul Meireles, Nuri Sahin and Kolo Toure have worn the number since Hyypia left us, hardly the greatest tribute to our former favourite.
5) Daniel Agger
Agger is still waiting for a successor in the number five shirt. Perhaps Danny Ings could have followed in Milan Baros’ footsteps and worn it in a striking role… Mark Wright and Steve Staunton are the only other occupiers.
6) John Arne Riise
Fabio Aurelio, Luis Alberto and Dejan Lovren have followed in the footsteps of our iconic full-back. Unfortunately, due to injuries, ability and form respectively, we’ve not seen much of the number six shirt at Anfield in a few years.
7) Luis Suarez
It’s the shirt that comes with all the history, but before the irresistible Uruguayan its record in the Premier League was actually fairly ordinary – Nigel Clough, Steve McManaman, Vladimir Smicer, Harry Kewell and Robbie Keane.
8) Steven Gerrard (c)
We were sorely tempted to include Emile Heskey, but Gerrard scrapes in by the skin of his teeth… we couldn’t really leave out the greatest player in Liverpool’s history could we? We’ve also made him our squad’s captain.
9) Ian Rush
Arguably, our number nines have been more successful than our number sevens since the Premier League era began. Robbie Fowler and Fernando Torres have followed in the great man’s footsteps, although they have been some stinkers as well… Diouf, Carroll, Aspas, Lambert. Good luck Christian Benteke!
10) John Barnes
Michael Owen and Philippe Coutinho will both feel a little hard done by, but when Barnes was on form he was simply a joy to watch. We couldn’t bring ourselves to leave him out at this stage. Prove us wrong, Phil.
11) Robbie Fowler
He missed out on the number nine shirt, but thankfully we’ve still managed to sneak Fowler into our squad. He didn’t have much competition for this one, with Jamie Redknapp and Maxi Rodriguez is strongest challengers.
12) Ronnie Whelan
Dani Pacheco and Victor Moses are the two most recent owners of this shirt number. We’ve had to go back to the very start of the Premier League era for a suitable candidate, with the veteran midfielder getting the nod.
13) Danny Murphy
Six players have tried the unlucky number in the Premier League era, the last of which was Anthony Le Tallec. While the Frenchman struggled to impress, Murphy had plenty of fine moments in a Liverpool shirt.
14) Xabi Alonso
A tough one this. Jordan Henderson has done a lot for us in recent years to suggest that he deserves to keep his number, but it’s hard to forget the magic that Alonso brought to Anfield, something that’s still sorely missed.
15) Daniel Sturridge
Sturridge took the number vacated by Yossi Benayoun and has certainly had a superb impact on Merseyside – scoring 40 goals in his first two-and-a-half years with us. How many more could it have been if he’d stayed fit?
16) Dietmar Hamann
With Jermaine Pennant, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Sebastian Coates the three players to have worn the number since the German midfielder, it’s hard to make any case for the Champions League winner not earning his place.
17) Steve McManaman
He missed out on the number seven shirt to Luis Suarez but we’ve still managed to get him in on a technicality. Macca also wore the number 17 during his early Liverpool days and sees off competition from Craig Bellamy.
18) Dirk Kuyt
Michael Owen and John Arne Riise both wore this number during their Liverpool careers but perhaps the most memorable owner of it was the Dutchman. Kuyt was immensely popular at Anfield and always tried his heart out.
19) Ryan Babel
Clearly the number to avoid… Torben Piechnik, Mark Kennedy, Brad Friedel, Pegguy Arphexad, Fernando Morientes, Stewart Downing and Javier Manquillo are the Dutchman’s fairly unspectacular competition.
20 Javier Mascherano
The number currently worn by Adam Lallana. He’ll have to go quite some way to surpass the standards set by the Argentine international, who is still arguably one of the greatest for his position in world football.
21) Gary McAllister
The number is probably best associated with Lucas Leiva, who’s had it for almost a decade now, but Gary’s role in our treble success in 2001 and his impending appointment to our coaching staff gets him the nod.
22) Simon Mignolet
Momo Sissoko is probably the most notable name to have worn the shirt before the Belgian, so we’ve gone for our current number one here. Another keeper, Chris Kirkland, also wore this number during his Liverpool career.
23) Jamie Carragher
Emre Can and Robbie Fowler are the only other two players to have worn this number. Can has so far done his us proud with his performances and if he can be half the player Carragher was then we’ll be on to a winner.
24) Joe Allen
He might not have enjoyed the best of starts to his Liverpool career, but he’s done a hell of lot better than Florent Sinama-Pongolle and David N’Gog. Let’s hope the Welshman can justify his selection next season.
25) Pepe Reina
Completing our list is the Spaniard, who is surely our best goalkeeper in the Premier League era. He took the shirt number from Igor Biscan and it has remained unoccupied since his departure a couple of years ago.
An honourable mention to…
Some higher Liverpool squad numbers have been used sparingly, but have had some notable takers. We’ve picked out five of the best in the list below…
28 – Danny Ings went with this number following his move from Burnley. He’s following in the footsteps of Bruno Cheyrou, Stephen Warnock, Damien Plessis and Christian Poulsen… he can’t do much worse, can he?!
31 – Raheem Sterling took this number from Nabil El Zhar.
37 – Martin Skrtel… and some other people.
45 – Mario Balotelli became the first player since Stephen Sama to wear this number. They’ve done equally well at Anfield.
54 – The highest number that Liverpool have ever handed out. Previously worn by Sheyi Ojo and Kristoffer Peterson.
