English Premier League
All The Players In 18 Years To Take The Doomed Shirt
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Chelsea are but to offer a participant the burden of their cursed no9 shirt for the approaching season. We check out the gamers who’ve flopped whereas carrying the enduring quantity for the blues.
Tony Cascarino
Wanting into the previous Tony Cascarino was Chelsea’s first no.9 of the Premier League period and he actually set this curse on its manner.
Serving solely two seasons on the membership Cascarino bagged a tragic complete of 6 targets in each mixed and the closest he got here to a trophy was runner up of the 1993/94 FA Cup.
Mateja Kezman
Shifting ten years on from Cascarino’s departure Mateja Kezman joined for the 2004/05 season and though this was a profitable season for Jose Mourinho’s blues, Kezman didn’t have the identical destiny.
Arriving from PSV for £6.75m Kezman managed to solely rating 4 targets in 25 video games which compelled a switch to Atletico Madrid on the finish of the season as a result of his poor aim output.
Khalid Bhoularaz and Steve Sidwell
It was clear that their was a curse following the No.9 shirt at Stamford Bridge and it appeared Chelsea’s answer on the time was to offer the quantity to gamers within the unsuitable place.
This answer first appeared with the signing of Khalid Bhoularaz from Hamburg who was fairly the other of a No.9 having performed as a central defender his entire profession. As anticipated he didn’t thrive and thru accidents hardly ever appeared and was bought after one season.
Shifting onto Steve Sidwell they determined to slowly work again up the pitch and provides a central midfielder the quantity. Sidwell was an attention-grabbing signing as he wasn’t a premier league starter however had shone in Readings inaugural season within the Premier League.
Expectedly Sidwell’s time at Chelsea didn’t go to plan and though he made 25 appearances he was one of many many No.9s to be now not after one season.
Franco Di Santo
Lastly Chelsea returned the No.9 again right into a strikers fingers the place it belonged, simply perhaps not the fitting one.
Being solely 19-years-old it was no shock his time was unsuccessful. The Argentine made solely 9 appearnces for The Blues within the 2009/10 season and was subsequently despatched on mortgage to Blackburn Rovers for the rest of the season. His time at Chelsea then got here to an finish completely becoming a member of Wigan for the brand new season.
Fernando Torres
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Shifting into extra well-known gamers Fernando Torres was signed to hopefully finish the curse as soon as and for all. The switch was one with excessive optimism as a result of his profitable time at Liverpool however as soon as once more the curse proved to be too overwhelming.
Torres ended the season at Stamford Bridge with simply 1 aim in 18 matches and on this time going 903 minutes with out scoring. Chelsea followers hoped it was simply the Spaniard discovering his ft down south however their hopes didn’t materialize with the ahead solely scoring 45 targets in 172 video games for the membership.
Though he might not have had private success with the membership he did handle to carry the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League trophies in his time. His time at Chelsea got here to an finish when he moved again to Atletico Madrid in 2014.
Radamel Falcao
With the No.9 curse in full movement it was time for Radamel Falcao to take the reigns. Having simply accomplished an underwhelming mortgage spell at Premier League rivals Manchester United the Chelsea board determined to take one other probability on the Colombian.
The brand new No.9 scored simply as soon as in 12 appearances for Chelsea and in the end returned again to Monaco on the finish of his mortgage spell. So the curse continues.
Alvaro Morata
As soon as once more trying to interrupt the curse Chelsea broke their switch report and signed Alvaro Morata for nearly £60m.
The Spaniard didn’t have a dreadful time at Stamford Bridge in contrast to previous No.9s however he wasn’t near filling Diego Costas boots who had a profitable time at The Blues. Morata managed 11 targets in his first season however this wasn’t seen as sufficient from the board and he was despatched on mortgage to Atletico Madrid earlier than making a everlasting switch in 2019.
Gonzalo Higuain
Higuain solely had a brief mortgage spell at Chelsea and was the third Argentinian to take the No.9 shirt.
Throughout his six month mortgage spell he made 14 appearances scoring 5 targets. He then returned again to Juventus and it’s clear to see the ahead is now previous his prime at the moment taking part in at Inter Miami.
Romelu Lukaku
The latest sufferer to the curse is the Belgian ahead Romelu Lukaku. After a combined spell at Manchester United Lukaku moved to Inter Milan. Two years later Chelsea broke their switch report once more and Lukaku was signed for £97.5m.
The Chelsea board would’ve hoped that spending this quantity on a ahead would break the curse for good. Beginning off sturdy with three targets in his first three video games it was wanting potential however this kind didn’t final the entire season managing solely 8 targets in 26 video games that season. This resulted in Havertz taking up as the primary ahead.
Stating his lover for Inter Milan it wasn’t lengthy till Chelsea allowed the layer to return to the San Siro on mortgage.