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Bradley Barcola’s Potential Jersey Numbers at Liverpool

The Frenchman is set to complete his much-anticipated transfer to Anfield.
PSG set an extraordinary price tag for Bradley Barcola.
PSG set an extraordinary price tag for Bradley Barcola. | Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

One of the biggest transfer sagas of summer 2026 is finally reaching its conclusion, with Bradley Barcola set for a medical ahead of his move to Liverpool.

The 2024–25 Premier League winners are set to pay up to $166.6 million (£123 million) for the wide forward, after a breakthrough in negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain earlier in the week.

The European champions set an eye-watering asking price for the 23-year-old, who scored 13 times in all competitions last season, despite bringing in Maghnes Akliouche, Ferran Torres and Mika Godts to strengthen their forward line depth.

Eventually, a compromise on PSG’s initial valuation of $197 million was reached and new Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola can now look forward to counting on one of Europe’s most exciting forward players for the rest of this season.

Including add-ons, the Barcola deal, once completed, will rank as the second-most expensive in the history of the Premier League, not far behind Alexander Isak’s transfer to Liverpool for $170 million last summer.


Barcola’s Potential Shirt Numbers at Liverpool

Bradley Barcola and Kylian Mbappé
Bradley Barcola (left) has recently worn 12 for France and 29 for PSG. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

There are good few options available to Barcola when picking the number to go with his new red shirt.

Mohamed Salah’s old No. 11 would be some statement of intent. Should he wish to put less immediate pressure on himself, however, the numbers 13, 16, 17, 24, 26, 27, 29, 31, 32 are also among the currently vacant jerseys.

Liverpool retired the No. 20 shirt following Diogo Jota’s death last summer and that will not be open for selection. However, Cody Gakpo’s 18 and Harvey Elliott’s 19 could yet become available depending on what happens in the remaining hours of the transfer window.


Available Jersey Numbers at Liverpool

Number

Last Worn By

11

Mohamed Salah

13

Adrián

16

Marko Grujić

17

Curtis Jones

24

Rhian Brewster

26

Andy Robertson

27

Darwin Nuñez

29

Arthur Melo

31

Raheem Sterling

32

Joël Matip


Barcola’s ‘Symbolic’ Number Choice

Bradley Barcola.
Barcola has an affinity with No.29 thanks to FIFA. | Glenn Gervot - PSG / PSG via Getty Images

Barcola has switched numbers a fair amount in his career so far, donning 7,8 and 26, among others, with Lyon and 19 and—most recently—29 with PSG. At international level, it’s a similar story, though he has kept 12 for the past two seasons.

The winger may seem all over the place when it comes to squad numbers, but he actually has a very clear personal preference.

Speaking to Club Legacyz, Barcola named No.29 as “symbolic” for him.

He revealed: “When I was younger, I used to play FIFA. In the story mode with Alex Hunter, this number became symbolic for me. I thought to myself: ‘The day I go pro, it’ll be number 29.’

“And here I am, I adopted it, and now I’ll never let it go.”

The number 29 has been open at Liverpool since Arthur Melo’s brief cameo while wearing it during the 2022–23 season, and would not be surprising to see Barcola to grab hold of it gleefully at his unveiling.


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Andrew Headspeath
ANDREW HEADSPEATH

Andy Headspeath is a Real Madrid correspondent for Sports Illustrated FC. Originally from the UK, the weather, culture and soccer lured him to Spain over a decade ago where he lives with his wife, son and two untrainable dogs. A player of unspeakably limited talents and only one fully functional knee, he has more than a decade's experience in a wide variety of editorial roles within sports media, from match reporting to in-depth feature writing and interviews. He specializes in soccer history and culture, as well as—of course—La Liga.