Victor Munoz Receives Iconic No.23 Shirt for Liverpool Debut

Victor Munoz has barely set foot back on Merseyside, but Liverpool have already underlined the scale of their faith in him. The World Cup-winning midfielder will wear the club’s storied No.23 shirt in his first season at Anfield.

Munoz, signed from Osasuna in June, checked in at the AXA Training Centre earlier this week still riding the high of his triumph on the biggest stage. His arrival placed him in rare company: he is only the sixth player to become a world champion while on Liverpool’s books, and the first since fellow Spaniards Pepe Reina and Fernando Torres did so in 2010.

His squad number remained a lingering detail during the tournament. Jeremy Jacquet, another of the club’s summer recruits, had already taken No.5, leaving Munoz’s choice open and supporters guessing. The wait ended on Wednesday when Andoni Iraola’s side confirmed that the Spain international will take on No.23.

It is not just any spare number. No Liverpool player has worn 23 since Luis Diaz last used it in the 2022/23 season. The Colombian then stepped into the No.7 shirt, a jersey with its own heavy history at Anfield, and one that only five players have worn for the club in the Premier League era.

No.23, though, carries a very specific Liverpool resonance. Jamie Carragher made it his own, pulling it on for every one of his 16 years in the first team and turning those digits into a symbol of durability and defiance. Before Carragher, another academy product, Robbie Fowler, was the first to give the number prominence. He wore it for three seasons before switching to No.9 ahead of the 1996/97 campaign, filling the space left by Ian Rush at the head of Liverpool’s attack.

Since Carragher’s retirement, the shirt has been seen on only a select few backs. Emre Can and Xherdan Shaqiri followed, each adding their own brief chapter, before Diaz took it on and then moved aside for No.7.

Now it belongs to Munoz, a freshly crowned world champion stepping into a jersey that demands presence as much as talent. The number is settled. The stage, unmistakably, is his.