Trent Alexander-Arnold will not be able to continue donning the number 66 jersey should he end up moving to Real Madrid in the summer.
The right-back is set to quit Liverpool when his contract expires at the end of this season, leaving on a free transfer after more than 300 appearances for the Reds..
Madrid made Alexander-Arnold a top target earlier last year after monitoring the 26-year-old, who has not spoken publicly about his future since September 2024, over the last two years.
Should Alexander-Arnold move to the Bernabeu as expected, he will have to choose a new squad number as La Liga rules prohibit first-team squad players from wearing a number higher than 25.
La Liga clubs are allowed to register 25 players in their squads for each season, and the players chosen must be numbered from one to 25.
The rule does not apply to reserve-team players, who must be numbered between 26 and 50, which is why academy defender Raul Asencio, who has been a first-teamer this term, has been playing with the number 35 on his back.
Only the numbers 12, 24 and 25 are currently available in the Madrid squad, although there’s a good chance that more numbers will open up in the summer if and when any of Madrid’s current players leave. The number 12 is often left unused by La Liga clubs as a symbolic gesture that points to the fans being a team’s so-called 12th man.
Lee Radcliffe, Liverpool’s kit management coordinator, revealed in 2020 why Alexander-Arnold was handed the number 66 jersey in the first place.
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“When we get any young lads that come down from the Academy, we always deliberately try to give them a high-ish number,” Radcliffe told club media five years ago.”We don’t like to give them a low number in case they sort of think they’ve made it straight away, if you know what I mean.
“You pick it out because it’s a free number and it’s around that sort of number you think, ‘We’ll give that out because he’s only just come down’. When you see him now lifting trophies and celebrating with No.66 on the back, it’s a weird feeling and I can’t really describe it. It’s weird to see such a high number and for someone to be happy with it!
“Someone like Trent has just been happy to be around the first team and obviously doesn’t realise how good he is. He doesn’t really ask for anything, to be honest. I think he’s that laidback that he’s obviously been given the number and thought, ‘Yeah, that’ll do me. I’ll keep that’, and not realised how iconic it’s become over the years.”
