Number ‘9’ is currently vacant at the Blues following the departure of Romelu Lukaku on loan this summer.
What did Thomas Tuchel say?
Blues head coach Thomas Tuchel has admitted that the players don’t want to wear the No. 9 jersey at Stamford Bridge because they think it’s cursed. The number is currently vacant following the departure of the Belgian player to Inter, with Lukaku struggling to live up to expectations at Stamford Bridge.
Romelu returned to Chelsea in a £98m deal but returned to San Siro less than 12 months on loan after failing to make the desired impression in west London. The Belgians’ struggles follow from top strikers such as Higuain, Falcao, Morata, and Torres, who also found targets hard to come by when wearing Chelsea No. 9.
Thomas has now opened up about the situation and admits that there has not been a single player on Lukaku’s jersey since the striker left the club in June. The Chelsea manager said he’s cursed, cursed, people tell him he’s cursed. According to Tuchel, this is not the case when they leave it open for tactical reasons, for some players in the pipeline who come in and naturally take.
Thomas says there hasn’t been much demand for number 9. Players sometimes want to change the numbers, but surprisingly no one wants to touch it. Everyone who is longer than Tuchel in the club tells him: “Ah, you know how he had a 9 and he didn’t score, and he had a 9 and also didn’t score. So according to Thomas Tuchel, they have a moment right now where no one wants to touch No. 9.
Will the Blues take another striker?
The Chelsea manager was also asked if the Blues would sign the striker in the summer transfer window, amid speculation Chelsea are interested in Barcelona’s Aubameyang but gave little away about his plans. Thomas Tuchel added that they will look and check. They come from this curse #9; According to Thomas, he is also superstitious, he can understand why players may not touch him and have other preferences. That’s true, but Tuchel thinks Raheem will help them a lot and in general they have to create more offensive positions in order to have a little more players in the box.