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Shirt numbers available to Willian at Liverpool

Amid speculation linking Chelsea winger Willian with a shock move to Liverpool, Sports Mole looks at which numbers could be available to the Brazilian at Anfield.

Willian looks increasingly likely to leave Chelsea this summer as his contract ticks down, with the club and player still apart in discussions over the length of any extension.

Should the long-serving Brazilian depart Stamford Bridge then there is expected to be plenty of suitors - Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain are just some of the clubs to have been credited with an interest.

Another more surprising potential destination emerged this week, though, with reports suggesting that European champions and Premier League leaders Liverpool have entered the race for his signature.

With that in mind, here Sports Mole has taken a look at which shirt number the 31-year-old could take if he makes the move to Anfield.



Willian celebrates scoring for Chelsea against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on December 22, 2019.© Reuters

Willian's first-choice shirt number appears to be the iconic '10' - worn by the likes of John Barnes, Michael Owen and John Toshack at Anfield in the past.

The Brazilian would not dislodge the incumbent Sadio Mane from that shirt, though, while he has only worn that number for Chelsea since Eden Hazard left the club last summer.

A more likely option would be to revert to the number 22 shirt he held for the first six years of his Chelsea career and for the first two seasons of his professional career at Shakhtar Donetsk.

That number is currently taken at Liverpool and is usually reserved for a third-choice goalkeeper, but if Willian really pushed for it he would likely be granted it ahead of current occupant Andy Lonergan.

Numbers seven and 11 are traditionally associated with wingers but those are taken by James Milner and Mohamed Salah respectively, while Willian has not worn either of those numbers before anyway.

Indeed, the only number other than 10 and 22 he has worn at club level is the 88 shirt for one season at Anzhi Makhachkala, and that is unsurprisingly vacant for Liverpool at the moment.

Another option could be the number 19 he has regularly worn for Brazil, with that shirt also currently vacant after Mane switched to number 10 in 2018-19.

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Steven Gerrard celebrates Liverpool winning the FA Cup in May 2006
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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133


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