During the summer, we kept track of the squad numbers allocated to new signings with a thread on Twitter.
It worked fairly well but ended up fairly unwieldy by the end of it, with little order or structure to it.
While we have decided to follow developments in a similar manner for January, we have decided that the thread is better acting as a portal to a blog here.
The newest updates will appear at the top of the page, which will then be arranged by country or league, to allow for ease of access.
January 30
Daniel Muñoz has joined Crystal Palace and will wear the number 12 shirt.
The Colombian international right-back previously wore 23 for Belgian side Genk.
The Palace number 12 has been empty since Will Hughes vacated it in favour of 19 at the beginning of the 2022-23 season.
Premier League
Burnley
Burnley have signed David Datro Fofana on loan from Chelsea for the rest of the season.
The Ivorian striker will wear number 23, which was last held at Turf Moor by Nathan Tella.
Fofana had 11 while on loan at Union Berlin in the first half of the season – after joining Chelsea a year ago he wore 27 for them but that number was given to Malo Gusto for the current term.
Prior to moving to London, he wore 20 and then 9 for Norwegian side Molde.
Brentford
While Sergio Reguilón briefly returned to Tottenham Hotspur after his loan spell at Manchester United was brought to an end, he has departed again, joining Brentford until the end of the season.
The occupant of number 15 at Old Trafford, Reguilón now has 12 on his back.
The left-back’s exit from Tottenham, coupled with Hugo Lloris leaving, means that Oliver Skipp (4) is the lowest-numbered active player for Spurs at the moment.
Sheffield United
Ben Brereton Díaz has joined the Blades on loan from Villarreal, to whom he moved from Blackburn Rovers in the summer.
The attacker will wear the number 11 shirt freed up by Benie Traoré’s move to Nantes.
Brereton Díaz had worn 9 for Villarreal – the first time in the Chilean international’s career that he had a 1-11 number.
Tottenham Hotspur
Timo Werner, signed on loan from RB Leipzig, will wear number 16.
The German striker’s favoured number is 11, which he wore in both spells at Leipzig and for Chelsea, but that is held at Tottenham by Bryan Gil.
Werner, who wore 9 for Germany at the 2018 World Cup and 11 at Euro 2020, had number 19 at his first club, VfB Stuttgart.
Centre-back Radu Drăgușin has signed from Genoa and has been given the number 6.
Drăgușin was number 5 for Genoa, having worn 37 for Juventus and 25 for Salernitana.
He’s not the first Romanian to wear the Spurs 6 – Vlad Chiricheș had it from 2013-15 (though he had to wear 12 in Europe his first season).
Davinson Sánchez was the most recent player to wear 6 for Tottenham, following Nabil Bentaleb, who had it briefly between stints wearing number 42.
West Ham United
Kalvin Phillips has joined West Ham United on loan from Manchester City.
The England international midfielder – 4 for City and most often 8 for his country, though he wore 14 at the last two major tournaments – will wear number 11 for the Hammers.
The last player to wear 11 for West Ham was Phillips’ new midfield partner Lucas Paquetá.
The Brazilian switched to 10 during the summer, at which point Gianluca Scamacca moved from 7 to 11 – but he joined Atalanta (where he now wears 90) before he could appear on the pitch in his new digits.
Championship
Middlesbrough
Luke Ayling has joined Middlesbrough on loan from Leeds United.
The veteran right-back has been number 2 at Elland Road since 2016, having worn 22, 5 and 20 in conseuctive seasons for Bristol City prior to that.
Marcus Browne in 2020-21 was the last player to wear 12 for Boro – he was the first since goalkeeper Brad Guzan in 2016-17.
Hull City
Portuguese midfielder Fabio Carvalho has moved on loan from Liverpool to Hull City.
Allocated number 28 at Anfield and having worn 18 while on loan at RB Leipzig in the first half of the season, he has taken 45 for the Tigers.
League One
Wycombe Wanderers
Richard Koné has joined from Athletic Newham and will wear number 24.
League Two
Wimbledon
Joe Lewis – the Welsh defender rather than the former England U21 goalkeeper – is Wimbledon’s new number 31.
He also wore that for previous clubs Stockport County and Torquay United.
France
Monaco
Germany international Thilo Kehrer joined Monaco on loan from West Ham United early in the transfer window but we didn’t have their kit illustrated at the time.
For West Ham, Kehrer had worn number 24 – the same one to which he moved while with Paris Saint-Germain so that Sergio Ramos could take 4.
In the principality, Kehrer will wear number 5, which was last worn by Ismail Jakobs in 2022-23.
Germany
Bayern Munich
Eric Dier has joined from Tottenham Hotspur.
The England international will wear number 15, as he did for Spurs and Sporting Clube de Portugal before that.
The Bayern 15 shirt was last worn by Arijon Ibrahimović in 2021-22.
Eintracht Frankfurt
Striker Saša Kalajdžić, number 18 for Wolverhampton Wanderers, will wear 9 at during his time on loan at Deutsche Bank Park.
It was vacated by Randal Kolo Muani when he moved to Paris Saint-Germain in August. Kalajdžić previously wore number 9 for VfB Stuttgart.
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Donny van de Beek, also signed on loan, from Manchester United, has been given number 25.
The Dutch midfielder wore 6 at Ajax but when he joined United he was among those who opted to wear 34 as a show of support for Appie Nouri.
He wore 30 on loan at Everton two years ago.
Borussia Dortmund
Jadon Sancho has re-joined Borussia Dortmund, on loan from Manchester United until the end of the season.
The England international, who had been allocated number 25 at United, will wear 10 on his return to Signal Iduna Park. It was last worn for Dortmund by Thorgan Hazard.
In his first spell in Westphalia, Sancho wore number 7 – that is now held by Giovanni Reyna, who traded down from 32 when the winger left.
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Also joining Dortmund on loan is Chelsea’s Ian Maatsen.
Number 29 for the Blues, he will wear 22 in Germany – he previously wore that number while with Charlton Athletic.
Italy
Internazionale
Tajon Buchanan has swapped one black-and-blue-striped number 17 shirt for another, having joined Inter from Club Brugge.
The Canadian full-back also wore 17 for New England Revolution. He is the first player to have the number at Inter since Yann Karamoh in 2017-18.
Netherlands
Ajax
Jordan Henderson’s time in Saudi Arabia has come to an end – he has left Al-Ettifaq and joined Ajax.
Numbers 14, which Henderson wore for Liverpool and England, is vacant but of course that is retired for Johan Cruyff.
Instead, the England international will instead wear 6.
Portugal
Benfica
Following Hannibal Mejbri in leaving Manchester United on loan is Álvaro Fernández.
The left-back spent the first half of the season in his native Spain, wearing number 33 for Granada, but now he is Benfica’s number 3.
While had had ‘Fernandez’ on the back of his number 42 shirt for United in pre-season, he had ‘A. Carreras’ – his mother’s surname – for Granada and will have that again for As Águias.
Spain
Atlético Madrid
Atlético Madrid have been busy in the latter stages of the transfer window.
Belgium international Arthur Vermeeren has signed from Antwerp – he wore 48 in his native land but will now have 18 in Spain. The number was vacated by João Félix when he joined Barcelona.
The club have also signed goalkeeper Horațiu Moldovan from Rapid Bucharest.
He will wear 25, one of only three numbers that goalkeepers in La Liga can be allocated, and so Rodrigo Riquelme shifts from 25 to 17 to accommodate that. Thanks to Paquito for the info.
Sevilla
Hannibal Mejbri has joined Sevilla on loan from Manchester United.
The Tunisian midfielder had worn number 46 for the Red Devils and will do so in Spain, too.
While La Liga rules stipulate that squads should be numbered from 1-25, younger players assigned to a club’s B team can wear higher digits and this workaround has ensured that the 20-year-old can have his favoured number.
Sevilla have been known to plough their own furrow when it comes to numbering – while Uefa no longer have a rule preventing a number being recycled in the same campaign, Los Nervionenses have still adopted such an approach in recent years.
Women’s Super League
Arsenal
USA international right-back Emily Fox has moved to Arsenal from North Carolina Courage.
Pleasingly, the number 2 shirt is free for her to take – it had been free since Brazil captain Rafaelle Souza left in the summer.
Aston Villa
Noelle Maritz will wear number 26 for Aston Villa.
The Switzerland defender had been Arsenal’s number 16.
West Ham United
Shelina Zadorsky has moved to West Ham United, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.
The Canada international, who was 3 for Spurs, will wear 14 for the Hammers.
This is great, thank you!
Top stuff. Thank you for this.
Dragusin is confirmed to be Spurs no.6 🙂
Cheers!