'Cursed' No.9 jersey scares off Chelsea players, Tuchel admits

No Chelsea player has volunteered to take on the number after Romelu Lukaku’s exit.

Thomas Tuchel has admitted the Chelsea players are not willing to take on the team’s No.9 shirt.

The Blues fans hoped Romelu Lukaku‘s £97.5m move from Inter would end the ‘curse’. But the Belgian star’s disappointing return only added him to jersey’s long list of victims.

Fernando Torres, Alvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuain, Radamel Falcao and Mateja Kezman have failed to impress as Chelsea’s number 9 in recent years.

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“It’s cursed. People tell me it’s cursed,” Tuchel told reporters before his side’s Premier League opener against Everton.

“It’s not the case that we leave it open for reasons or for some players in the pipeline that naturally could come and take it.

“There was not a big demand for number 9, and sometimes players want to change numbers but surprisingly no one wants to touch it.

“Everyone who is here longer than me in the club tells me, ‘Ah you know, he had the number 9 and he did not score and he also had the number 9 and he did not score.

“Now we have a moment where no one wants to touch the number 9.”