Romelu Lukaku, Alvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuain, Fernando Torres: The Curse of Chelsea Number 9

• Thomas Tuchel has revealed that none of his players offered himself to take the vacant number 9 shirt
• The shirt is associated with a curse after many top strikers failed to match the required expectations after wearing the shirt
• Tammy Abraham remains one of the most recent strikers to fare relatively well by donning the shirt

Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has come out in the open to say that no player wants to take shirt number 9 at Chelsea. Tuchel went as far as saying that there is a belief that that number is cursed.

Multiple high-profile strikers have walked through Chelsea's doors but their fortunes dwindled drastically once they were handed the number 9 shirt.

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Speaking ahead of Chelsea's opening game of the season against Everton as quoted by ESPN, Tuchel revealed that no player offered himself to take the shirt. New forward signing Raheem Sterling opted to go with 17 while academy graduate Armando Broja will be looking to force his way into Tuchel's thinking while wearing number 39.

It's cursed! People tell me it's cursed!

There was not a big demand for the number nine. Players sometimes want to change numbers but surprisingly nobody wants to touch it.

Romelu Lukaku was the latest victim after he had to cut short his five-year contract at Stamford Bridge and head back to Inter Milan. Lukaku had been a prolific striker at Inter Milan but failed to replicate that form in London.

People who saw Fernando Torres play at Liverpool know that the Spaniard was one of the most potent strikers in the world. But after sealing a then British transfer record fee to Chelsea, Torres's sharpness reduced drastically. His only memorable moment remains rounding up Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes in the Champions League semifinal of 2012.

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Other players in the long list include former Real Madrid and Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain, Radamel Falcao and Alvaro Morata. A case can be made for Tammy Abraham who made a decent attempt to break the number 9 curse before he was shipped to AS Roma.

Chelsea target shock move for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Sports Brief had earlier reported that Chelsea had set their eyes on signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona.

If the deal goes through, it will come as a surprise given that Aubameyang only joined Barcelona six months ago.

The striker had fallen out with Arsenal's head coach Mikel Arteta and managed to force a move away to Camp Nou where he became an instant hit.