Victor Munoz Takes the Historic No.23 Shirt at Liverpool

Victor Munoz has barely unpacked his bags at Liverpool, but his number already carries a story.

The Spain international, fresh from lifting the World Cup and joining from Osasuna in June, has been handed one of Anfield’s most evocative shirts: No.23.

His arrival at the AXA Training Centre this week completed a whirlwind summer. World champion with his country, new signing under Andoni Iraola, and now part of a small, intriguing lineage in Liverpool history. Only six players have ever been world champions while on the club’s books; Munoz is the first since Pepe Reina and Fernando Torres in 2010. That alone marks him out. The number on his back adds another layer.

During Spain’s run at the tournament, his Liverpool squad number stayed unresolved. Jeremy Jacquet had already claimed the No.5, leaving fans to speculate where Munoz would land in the pecking order of digits and tradition. On Wednesday, the club gave the answer. No.23. A number with a Scouse accent and a defensive snarl.

The shirt has been vacant since Luis Diaz wore it in the 2022/23 season, before the Colombian moved to the No.7. That switch placed Diaz among a select group of just five players to wear the No.7 for Liverpool in the Premier League era. No.23 does not have the same global shine, but at Anfield it carries its own kind of weight.

Jamie Carragher turned it into a symbol. For 16 years, from academy hopeful to Champions League winner and club vice-captain, Carragher wore 23 as a second skin. Blood, blocks, and last-ditch tackles – the number became shorthand for that uncompromising edge Liverpool demand at the back.

Before Carragher, Robbie Fowler first brought 23 to life. The academy prodigy, already a phenomenon in front of goal, wore it for three seasons before stepping into the No.9 shirt ahead of the 1996/97 campaign, once Ian Rush had vacated the role of Anfield’s leading man.

After Carragher’s era, the number flickered rather than blazed. Emre Can picked it up, adding a modern, marauding twist from midfield. Xherdan Shaqiri followed, a squad player with a knack for decisive moments and spectacular strikes, but not the week-in, week-out prominence Carragher once gave it.

Now it belongs to Munoz.

A World Cup winner stepping into a shirt steeped in graft and expectation, and one that has rarely been worn lightly. Liverpool have had more glamorous numbers, more marketable ones too. Yet 23 has often found its way onto the backs of players who leave a mark.

Munoz’s first task is simple: earn the number. The history will take care of itself.