There is this question whether the Chelsea’s vacant No 9 shirt is cursed or not. players neither old nor new signing wants to get associated with the number.
The Blues are set to play their opener Premier League game against Everton, and looking at the backs of the players, no one has the No 9 shirt.
The No 9 is traditional number made to be worn by center-forwards, who now have abandoned it.
Since the Blues under Thomas Tuchel loaned Rumelu Lukaku to Inter Milan after becoming a flop in the No 9 shirt, no other player wants the No 9.
Lukaku broke the Chelsea record after he signed from Inter Milan at £97.5million and managed to net Just eight goals in the whole of last season.
Chelsea had signed up to Seven players who wore the No 9, and all of them did not seem to turn out as expected and were fired.
They include Fernando Torres, Alvaro Morata, Mateja Kezman, Hernan Crespo, Radamel Falcao, Gonzalo Higuain and the latest Romelu Lukaku.
Thomas Tuchel, the current Chelsea boss also gave his views on the No 9 issue.
“It’s cursed, it’s cursed — people tell me it’s cursed.
“It’s not the case we are leaving it open for tactical reasons, for players to come in and take it.
“There was not a big demand for No 9, like when players sometimes want to change numbers. Surprisingly, nobody wants to touch it.
“Everybody who has been at the club longer than me tells me, ‘Ah, you know, he had the nine and he did not score… and he had the nine and also did not score’.
“So we now have a moment where nobody wants to touch the number nine. I’m superstitious, I can understand why players maybe don’t touch it and have other preferences.
“It’s like this but I think Raheem Sterling will help us a lot and in general it’s our responsibility to create more offensive positions to have maybe more players in the box.” The Chelsea boss said.
Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling will play false nine. Tuchel also said the new signings will enable him play a 3-4-3 formation. With seems to give convincing results.
“The core and strength of the formation is a bit deep with three defenders and two central midfielders.
“So, from this, it’s maybe the responsibility for the three attackers to be a bit higher than in other systems.
“So, we are relying heavily on our wing-backs and still we think it’s a good structure for the characteristics of our players.
“We will adapt and we’ve got new quality with Raheem, which helps.” Tuchel said.
He also added after 4-0 loss to Arsenal, they received a wakeup call. And they are not going to make the same mistakes against Everton.
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