Bradley Barcola's new squad number revealed, following some not so Liverpool greats

It may have taken until the penultimate day of the transfer window, but Bradley Barcola is finally a Liverpool player.

On Bank Holiday Monday, the Frenchman's £123 million move from Paris Saint-Germain was finally officially confirmed by the Reds.

This makes the winger the second-most expensive player in the Reds' history, behind only Alexander Isak, leaping ahead of Florian Wirtz. In fact, if all the add-ons are met, only Isak, as well as PSG duo Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, have ever been signed by anyone for a higher amount.

Well, the Liverpool hierarchy clearly believe that the 23 year old is worth it. Since leaving Olympique Lyonnais for les Parisiens, Barcola has scored 39 goals and registered 37 assists, which equates to a goal contribution every 118 minutes on average.

With les Rouge-et-Bleu, he has won 13 major honours, including back-to-back Champions League titles, coming off the bench in both final victories over Inter Milan in Munich and Arsenal at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest earlier this year.

Ahead of his Liverpool debut, likely to come at Portman Road against Ipswich town on Friday night, fans were wondering what shirt number Barcola would select. Well, that has now been confirmed.

Bradley Barcola's Liverpool shirt number

Despite the fact 11 is available, following Mohamed Salah's departure to join Trabzonspor, Barcola will be donning the number 29 shirt for his new club.

He told the official club channels: “Yes it’s true, it is my favourite number,” Barcola told LFCTV after previously disclosing how the number became symbolic to him.

“When I was little, I played EA FC, so I had promised myself to have this number with Alex Hunter, and in the end I was lucky to have it.

“And that’s why I hope to keep it for the whole of my career.”

This though is no surprise, considering it is the number he wore throughout his time at Parc des Princes too. So, why is this?

Well, Barcola himself stated that he wears 29 in honour of Alex Hunter. If that name sounds familiar, it is probably because you played The Journey on FIFA 17. Hunter is the fictional footballer who you play as, starting out as a kid having a kick-about in the park, aiming to go from there all the way to winning the Champions League and the Ballon d'Or.

In an interview, Barcola noted that this was an inspiration to him growing up:

"When I was younger I used to play FIFA. In the story mode with Alex Hunter, this number became symbolic for me. I thought: the day I go pro, it’ll be 29. And here I am. I adopted it, and now I’ll never let it go."

Among the shirt numbers still available are: No. 11, No. 13, No. 16, No. 17, No. 24, No. 26, No. 27, and No. 34-37.

So, who else has donned 29 on their back for Liverpool? Well, it is not a particularly long, nor illustrious list.

Liverpool's former number 29s

Note: All information courtesy of Transfermarkt.

Fair to say, that is not the most distinguished list of players who have previously been number 29 at Anfield. Barcola could become the clubs highest-scoring number 29 by, who knows, mid-October, surpassing Fabio Borini's three goals and David Thompson's five goals; they are the only players to have netted more than once in this shirt number.

Goalkeeper Brad Friedel enjoyed a more than solid Premier League career at Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers and Spurs, racking up 450 appearances. However, when he arrived on Merseyside from Columbus Crew as a 26 year old, the American was not ready to be the Reds' number one, quickly sold after one season.

The most-recent incumbent of the 29 shirt is Arthur Melo. After joining on loan from Juventus, he made his Liverpool debut against Napoli during a Champions League defeat at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Soon after, the Brazilian would require surgery on a serious thigh injury, and would never represent the Reds again.

Thus, Barcola will certainly be hoping for a more memorable career on Merseyside than that. The France international is finally officially a Liverpool player, after months of posturing, so he surely cannot wait to wear his lucky number for the first time.

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