'It's cursed': Manager Thomas Tuchel explains why no Chelsea player wants to wear the no.9 jersey

There has been a trend at Chelsea wherein it is seen that whichever player dons the number 9 jersey, fails to make a mark and struggles to score goals. Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed that no player wants to take the no.9 jersey at the club owing to the curse.
Tuchel AP

Thomas Tuchel in the manager of Chelsea

Photo : AP
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Recent players who have donned the no.9 jersey at Chelsea have failed to score goals.
  • Thomas Tuchel revealed that no player wants to wear the no.9 jersey at the club owing to the curse.
  • Chelsea take on Everton in the opening weekend of the Premier League 2022/23.
After a 75 day break the Premier League is finally back in action from this weekend onwards. One of the big matches to look forward to will definitely be the clash between Chelsea and Everton on Saturday evening. Chelsea go into the match having had a mixed bag of a transfer window so far but bringing in valuable additions to their squad in Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella.
However, they have also let go of their striker Romelu Lukaku on loan to Inter Milan. He came to Chelsea last season amid much fanfare for a club record fee, but failed to make any impression scoring just 15 goals in 44 games. He donned the number 9 jersey last season.
In fact, there has been a trend at Chelsea wherein it is seen that whichever player dons the number 9 jersey, fails to make a mark and struggles to score goals. Players like Alvaro Morata, Fernando Torres, Radamel Falcao, Ginzalo Higuain among many others donned the number 9 jersey in the past few years but failed to make a mark.
In the pre-match press conference before the Everton game Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed that no player wants to take the no.9 jersey at the club owing to the curse.
"People tell me it's cursed... It's not the case that we leave it open for tactical reasons," the German tactician stated. "Surprisingly, nobody wants to touch it. Everybody who is here longer than me tells me, 'ah, you know, he had the nine and he did not score and he had the nine and did also not score.' So we now we have a moment where nobody wants to touch the number nine. I'm also superstitious, I can understand why players maybe don't touch it and have other preferences," Tuchel added.
There have been rumours of Chelsea willing to buy striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from FC Barcelona and defender Wesley Fofana from Leicester City. However, Thomas Tuchel remained tight lipped about th club's targets in the transfer window.
"Maybe we bring one more player, maybe not... We have options but at the same time, we know how many games are coming. So let's see if we can still maybe sign a player," added the Chelsea manager.
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