Mane will wear #19: The previous 9 Liverpool #19’s
By Tom Bogert
Sadio Mane has chosen to wear the number 19 for Liverpool. He’ll be the 10th to do so in the club’s Premier League history. Let’s reminisce on the first nine.
With the more glamorous numbers such as 7, 9, 10 and 11 all taken at Liverpool Football Club, as well as the ghost of Steven Gerrard occupying the no. 8 shirt, Sadio Mane wasn’t exactly spoiled for choice when it came down to picking the number on his back at his new club.
Sure, it’s all arbitrary anyway. How much of a difference would it make if he wore 87 on his shirt? Well, other than the particularly odd personality trait such a conspicuous decision would reveal, it shouldn’t make much of a difference.
But in modern football, it feels as if it does.
At Liverpool, the number 7, thanks to Kenny Daglish, Luis Suarez and others, as well as number 8, essentially exclusively due to Gerrard, are holy. Those numbers have been consecrated as the men who wore them have been deified. It does mean more.
Also, it’s summer. Fans are beginning to be excited about Mane, but there’s no football to consume featuring him, so what else to do than peruse deeper into his number selection?
Luckily for him, there aren’t exactly big boots to fill at Liverpool with this no. 19 shirt. There isn’t much grand folklore that erects a pillar with the number 19 on it holding up the history of the club like there is with the aforementioned numerics.
The most recent three to don the number are much more infamous than famous, if not straight up irrelevant.
On we go to sift through the previous nine players wear number 19 for Liverpool Football Club, sorted from least appearances to most.
Spoiler: there’s more players with less than 25 games played for the club wearing this number.
Shoutout to LFCHistory.net for the information.
Next: 9. Steven Caulker