Luis Suarez to wear the Number 9 shirt at Barcelona

Uruguay international Luis Suarez has been handed the Number 9 shirt at Barcelona following his 88-million-euro summer switch from Anfield.

His transfer move from Liverpool – which had been a subject of rumors and speculation – was finally confirmed on Friday.

Suarez is familiar with this number; but only at international level with Uruguay. Barcelona becomes the first place where the striker wears the shirt for the first time at club level since he emerged on the global soccer stage more than a decade ago.

At Dutch side Ajax Amsterdam, Suarez donned the Number 16 jersey before being allocated the famous Number 7 shirt when he joined five-time European champions Liverpool in January 2011.

The striker’s jersey replicas – carrying his name and number – are already being sold at the Nou Camp and the Catalan and Spanish giants are hoping for a surge of interest and support for their new signing from their millions of supporters.

The 27-year old striker will be joining a star-studded forward line-up that also has Argentina’s Lionel Messi (wearing the Number 10 jersey) and Brazil’s Neymar (donning the Number 11 shirt) when he is back from a long period of suspension. FIFA slapped the lengthy ban on Suarez for shoulder-biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in their two countries’ last group match of this year’s World Cup in Brazil.

The often controversial Uruguayan is inheriting the Number 9 shirt from Alexis Sanchez, with the Chile star having been confirmed at English side Arsenal in another of the latest big-money transfer moves across Europe – worth 40 million euros – in the past week.

Barcelona’s line-up of Messi, Suarez and Neymar is an array of top-notch talent that has, without doubt, the Catalans’ marketing unit salivating in anticipation ahead of the new season in about one month’s time. FIFA’s ban on Suarez includes all football-related activities both at country and club level and will see him out of play until end of October, meaning he will miss about two-and-a-half months of Barcelona’s start of the 2014-15 season.

Suarez scored 82 goals in 133 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions and comes with an additional firepower for new manager Luis Enrique, who has also brought in former Sevilla midfielder Ivan Rakitic – who takes the Number 4 shirt – and goalkeepers Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo who were given the Number 1 and Number 13 jerseys respectively.