Victor Munoz Takes Iconic No.23 Shirt at Liverpool
Victor Munoz has barely walked through the doors at Liverpool, but he already carries a number with real weight on his back.
The World Cup-winning midfielder, signed from Osasuna in June, reported for pre-season at the AXA Training Centre earlier this week still basking in the glow of his summer triumph. He now joins a very different kind of elite group: the small band of players trusted with Liverpool’s No.23 shirt.
The club confirmed on Wednesday that the Spain international will wear No.23 in his debut season under Andoni Iraola. His squad number had been left open during the tournament, with fellow summer signing Jeremy Jacquet already taking No.5, but Liverpool have now pinned Munoz to a shirt steeped in recent history.
No one has worn 23 since Luis Diaz in the 2022/23 campaign. The Colombian then moved to the No.7 jersey the following season, stepping into another of Anfield’s storied numbers and becoming one of only five players to wear that digit for the Reds in the Premier League era.
The Story of No.23
The story of 23 at Liverpool, though, starts long before Diaz.
Jamie Carragher made it his own. The Bootle-born defender wore 23 for his entire 16-year senior career at Anfield, turning it from a simple squad number into a symbol of durability, commitment, and big European nights. Before Carragher, another academy product gave it life: Robbie Fowler.
Fowler was the first to don 23, wearing it for three seasons before switching to the No.9 shirt ahead of the 1996/97 campaign following Ian Rush’s departure from Liverpool’s forward line. From there, 9 became Fowler’s calling card, but 23 already had its place in the club’s modern story.
After Carragher’s long reign, only a select few have followed. Emre Can and Xherdan Shaqiri each had their spell in 23, adding different flavours to the number’s lineage: Can as a versatile, sometimes explosive midfielder; Shaqiri as a creative, game-changing option in attack.
Now it is Munoz’s turn.
He arrives as one of just six players 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. That achievement alone sets a demanding bar. The shirt on his back only raises it.
From Fowler’s goals to Carragher’s tackles, from Can’s surges to Shaqiri’s sparks and Diaz’s flair, No.23 has rarely been quiet at Anfield.
Munoz walks into that history with a medal already in his pocket. What he writes next in that number will be judged on the grass.
