It’s official, Liverpool fans – Darwin Nunez is your new number 9.
The chaotic striker has snatched his chance to inherit the iconic shirt following Roberto Firmino’s move to Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia on a free transfer.
Nunez’s decision to take the number got us thinking about all the great strikers who have sported the 9 for Liverpool since the turn of the century.
Here’s 90min’s ranking of every player to wear it since 2000.
Iago Aspas has had a fine career in La Liga with Celta Vigo, but he was a huge disappointment in his one and only season in England.
His only goal for Liverpool came against Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup – he failed to find the net in the Premier League – and the Spaniard’s most memorable moment came when he played a Liverpool corner right into the path of an opposition player. Not great.
Boyhood Liverpool fan Rickie Lambert was released by the Reds at the age of 15 and had to work his way up right from the very bottom to return.
He fought his way through the lower divisions and led Southampton into the Premier League as he entered his thirties. After two stellar seasons in the top flight, Liverpool decided to bring Lambert home.
Unfortunately for the striker, he couldn’t make the most of his time back at Anfield and left after one year.
Liverpool fans must have thought they were onto a winner when they confirmed the signing of El Hadji Diouf on the day he tore apart reigning champions France at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, firing Senegal to the quarter-finals.
After a hot start to life on Merseyside, Diouf became more of a nuisance to Liverpool than to other teams, with his two seasons at the club marred by various controversies and few goals.
A high-level journeyman, it’s easy to forget that Nicolas Anelka had a quick pitstop at Liverpool midway through the 2001/02 season.
With five goals in 22 games, he at least wasn’t terrible.
Liverpool paying £35m for Andy Carroll – who had only a half-season of true top-flight experience under his belt – seemed steep at the time. It seems even steeper in hindsight.
Carroll was an up-and-coming striker but by no means was ready to make the step up to such a major team and he quickly found himself marked out of games and forced into uncomfortable situations which didn’t suit his limited skillset.
Christian Benteke was not a bad striker. A questionable signing, sure, but by no means an egregious flop.
He succeeded before he joined Liverpool and was prolific in the immediate seasons after leaving, while his return of 10 in 42 for the Reds was respectable.
We are now entering asterisk territory, people.
Robbie Fowler is one of Liverpool’s greatest ever strikers. However, if we’re only counting seasons in the 21st century, then his impact is diminished.
From 1993 to 1999, Fowler scored a whopping 135 goals in 251 games, but injuries meant his prime was cut short.
Across two spells at Anfield in the 2000s, he was still a useful player and a cult hero.
Total asterisk territory now – Nunez has not yet played a competitive game in the number 9 shirt and we are basing him totally on how he fared with the 27.
It was never going to be easy for the Uruguayan after his big-money move last summer, and though he has been rather wasteful in front of goal, he’s still found the back of the net enough times to suggest his upside is still there.
Fernando Torres was everyone’s favourite striker during his first two years at Liverpool.
He was the quickest player in the land. He had cool hair. He was part of Spain’s golden generation. He had the catchiest chant. He had his own iconic Nike advert, for goodness sake.
It never felt right when he swapped Liverpool red for Chelsea blue, and it’s nice to see he’s still adored on Merseyside again nowadays.
Torres had the higher peak, but Firmino’s longevity and success is unbeatable in this argument.
The Brazilian won every trophy available to him at Liverpool, and though he wasn’t a clinical finisher, he was the perfect striker to play with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
The real debate between Firmino and Torres is which of their chants is catchier. I’ll make a mental note to revisit that article at a later date.
Firmino is also the subject of an asterisk in that he wore the number 11 in his first season at the club.
