Why Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Liverpool’s other summer signings were wearing strange shirt numbers during the pre-season friendly with Preston

Ahead of their first pre-season friendly of the summer against Preston, Liverpool handed their six summer signings temporary squad numbers ranging from 55 to 60. The club confirmed that the likes of Florian Wirtz (58), Frimpong (59) and Giorgi Mamardashvili (56) are wearing placeholders until the adidas deal activates on August 1.

The club has also retired the No. 20 shirt in tribute to Jota, further affecting number availability. With Liverpool’s kit deal with adidas yet to begin, the club is avoiding assigning permanent numbers under its outgoing Nike contract to prevent fans from buying outdated kits with incorrect player numbers.

Mamardashvili, Frimpong and Kerkez all featured in the victory over Preston, but there was no space for Wirtz as Liverpool take care managing the Germany international's workload after a long 2024-25 season. Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Alexis Mac Allister, Luis Diaz and Alisson also weren't in the matchday squad.

Arne Slot's side will unveil their new adidas kits and permanent squad numbers for the likes of Wirtz, Frimpong and Kerkez at the start of August. Fans are encouraged to wait before purchasing shirts with player names and numbers until then.