Not long ago, the Liverpool homepage officially announced the club’s new number 9: Darwin Nunez. After Roberto Firmino, Nunez is expected to “fit” this shirt and continue the illustrious tradition of seniors such as Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler or Fernando Torres.
Nunez arrived at Anfield at the beginning of the 2022/23 season under a record contract. He scored 15 goals and 4 assists in 42 appearances. Looking at the achievement, that is not a bad number for a player who has just “wet feet” to the Premier League. However, it is difficult to say that the Uruguayan striker has had a successful season.
With Nunez taking over the No.9 shirt, Liverpool’s attack next season (No. 7-11) includes extremely formidable names:
-Number 7: Luis Diaz
-Number 8: Dominik Szoboszlai
-Number 9: Darwin Nunez
-Số 10: Alexis Mac Allister
-Số 11: Mohamed Salah
Memorable 9s in Liverpool history
The number 9 at The Kop is not always worn by top strikers. Against Firmino, the No. 9’s performance was relatively poor with second-tier names like Christian Benteke, Rickie Lambert and Iago Aspas.
More broadly in the Premier League era, the number 9 Liverpool has been worn by Andy Carroll, Fernando Torres, Robbie Fowler, Djibril Cisse, El Hadji Diouf, Nicolas Anelka and Ian Rush.
In this long list, it is not difficult to choose the best 9s: Ian Rush, Roberto Firmino, Fernando Torres and Robbie Fowler.
Roberto Firmino
Along with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, the Brazilian striker created the famous “miracle trio”. His peak was in the 2017/18 season when he scored 27 goals and 17 assists, setting the stage for the Champions League championship 1 season later.
Roberto Firmino has followed many other top European players to the Saudi Pro League to play.
Fernando Torres
Not only at Liverpool, Torres is one of the greatest number 9s in the Premier League era. He left a strong mark in the hearts of the port city’s fans with a top-notch performance.
The way Torres made Nemanja Vidic a victim in a 4-1 win over rivals Manchester United is undoubtedly the most memorable.
Robbie Fowler
The legend played for The Reds from 1993 to 2001. In his first four seasons, Fowler scored 116 goals in just 188 matches in all competitions. He is one of the best goalscorers in Premier League history with 248 goals scored in 553 appearances.