Thomas Tuchel reveals Chelsea players are scared of cursed number 9 jersey
According to the Daily Star, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed that none of the Chelsea players want to wear the number nine shirt due to the fact that it has been a source of great curse at the club in the past decade or so.
Tuchel further emphasized that there are no tactical reasons for it not being given to any player. That shirt was last worn by Romelu Lukaku, who is currently out on loan at Inter Milan after an underwhelming season last time around.
“It’s cursed, it’s cursed, people tell me it’s cursed. It’s not the case that we leave it open for tactical reasons, for some players in the pipeline that come in and naturally take it. There was not a big demand for number nine when players sometimes want to change numbers. Surprisingly, nobody wants to touch it.”
There have been loads of good players who have worn that number nine shirt since 2006, but things haven’t really gone their way. Likes of Fernando Torres, Radamel Falcao, Alvaro Morata, and Gonzalo Higuain signed for the club with big reputations wearing that jersey but ended up falling way short of expectations.
In the 2019/20 season, Tammy Abraham wore that and broke the hoodoo to an extent with impressive returns of 18 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions. However, the curse came back to haunt when £97.5m signing Lukaku wore it last season and did not fare well.
We can only hope and pray that whoever wears that dreaded number nine shirt next, the curse isn’t there to undermine his performances.
Chelsea started the season with a gritty 1-0 win over Everton in their Premier League opener of the 2022/23 season at Goodison Park. Raheem Sterling played as a false nine in that game.
It remains to be seen if the club will opt to look in the transfer market to look for a number nine. The club signing Werner and Lukaku in back-to-back summer windows showed that there is a clear need for an out-and-out centre-forward.
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Both of them seem to have lost Tuchel’s trust with regard to being regular starters. Armanda Broja is another young option that can save Chelsea millions if he steps up to the plate.