Bradley Barcola’s Potential Jersey Numbers at Liverpool
One of the biggest transfer sagas of summer 2026 is finally reaching its conclusion, with Bradley Barcola set for a medical ahead of his move to Liverpool.
The 2024–25 Premier League winners are set to pay up to $166.6 million (£123 million) for the wide forward, after a breakthrough in negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain earlier in the week.
The European champions set an eye-watering asking price for the 23-year-old, who scored 13 times in all competitions last season, despite bringing in Maghnes Akliouche, Ferran Torres and Mika Godts to strengthen their forward line depth.
Eventually, a compromise on PSG’s initial valuation of $197 million was reached and new Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola can now look forward to counting on one of Europe’s most exciting forward players for the rest of this season.
Including add-ons, the Barcola deal, once completed, will rank as the second-most expensive in the history of the Premier League, not far behind Alexander Isak’s transfer to Liverpool for $170 million last summer.
Barcola’s Potential Shirt Numbers at Liverpool
There are good few options available to Barcola when picking the number to go with his new red shirt.
Mohamed Salah’s old No. 11 would be some statement of intent. Should he wish to put less immediate pressure on himself, however, the numbers 13, 16, 17, 24, 26, 27, 29, 31, 32 are also among the currently vacant jerseys.
Liverpool retired the No. 20 shirt following Diogo Jota’s death last summer and that will not be open for selection. However, Cody Gakpo’s 18 and Harvey Elliott’s 19 could yet become available depending on what happens in the remaining hours of the transfer window.
Available Jersey Numbers at Liverpool
| Number | Last Worn By |
|---|---|
| 11 | Mohamed Salah |
| 13 | Adrián |
| 16 | Marko Grujić |
| 17 | Curtis Jones |
| 24 | Rhian Brewster |
| 26 | Andy Robertson |
| 27 | Darwin Nuñez |
| 29 | Arthur Melo |
| 31 | Raheem Sterling |
| 32 | Joël Matip |
Barcola’s ‘Symbolic’ Number Choice
Barcola has switched numbers a fair amount in his career so far, donning 7,8 and 26, among others, with Lyon and 19 and—most recently—29 with PSG. At international level, it’s a similar story, though he has kept 12 for the past two seasons.
The winger may seem all over the place when it comes to squad numbers, but he actually has a very clear personal preference.
Speaking to Club Legacyz, Barcola named No.29 as “symbolic” for him.
He revealed: “When I was younger, I used to play FIFA. In the story mode with Alex Hunter, this number became symbolic for me. I thought to myself: ‘The day I go pro, it’ll be number 29.'
“And here I am, I adopted it, and now I’ll never let it go.”
The number 29 has been open at Liverpool since Arthur Melo’s brief cameo while wearing it during the 2022–23 season, and would not be surprising to see Barcola to grab hold of it gleefully at his unveiling.
