Trent Alexander-Arnold will be forced to move on from his iconic No.66 after completing his switch to Real Madrid.
The Liverpool defender announced on Monday that he will depart his boyhood club after 20 years at the end of the season.
He is now expected to join Real Madrid and talkSPORT understands that he will sign a five-year contract with the Spanish giants.
However, as huge of a move as it is for Alexander-Arnold, it will force him into a change he may not have wanted to make.
Why will Trent have to give up No.66?
The right-back is going to have to switch from the No.66 shirt, which he has worn for his entire professional career.
It has become an iconic Liverpool strip over the years, with Alexander-Arnold starring while winning two Premier League titles and a Champions League wearing the digits.
He has worn multiple different numbers on the back of his kit for England, including 2, 7, 8 and 10.
But it’s still going to be tough for him to switch from 66 – and he has no choice when he begins to play in LaLiga.
LaLiga rules state that all players must wear a number between 1-25.
That matches up to the maximum squad size of players registered during a domestic campaign.
Of course, that means Alexander-Arnold’s 66 is well out of the parameters, so he’s going to have to swap.
It’s a rule that has seen Barcelona unable to retire the No.10 shirt for Lionel Messi and Real not allowed to retire No.7 for Cristiano Ronaldo.
The strictness surrounding those numbers having to be used and available for the 25 registered squad players will see Alexander-Arnold have no choice.
On top of that rule, Real Madrid also seem to have a club-specific condition made by president Florentino Perez.
And that could well have been what forced Jude Bellingham to move from his No.22 to No.5 at Los Blancos.
Real legend Zinedine Zidane revealed that Perez doesn’t like players wearing high numbers and that he prefers 1-11 on the pitch.
Zidane said: “I picked the number five shirt because he [Perez] didn’t want me to have 25, 30, 35. He said ‘this is not football, this is American football’ so in the end I got five.”
So, even if LaLiga rules allowed the use of No.66 in the league, Alexander-Arnold would have likely been asked to change anyways.
Now, questions will arise over what number he could change to.
Alexander-Arnold won’t be able to have the No.2, that’s at least until Dani Carvajal departs, unless the veteran offers his shirt.
As of this season, the only available shirts at Real are No.12, No.24 and No.25.
After announcing his departure from Anfield, Alexander-Arnold now has just three games left as a Red.
His final game for the club will be at home to Crystal Palace on May 25, before he potentially heads straight to Real Madrid.
Los Blancos want him to feature in their Club World Cup campaign, so they may pay Liverpool a fee to release him from his contract early.
That would see Alexander-Arnold make his Real debut on June 18.
