At Stamford Bridge, the no.9 shirt has proven to be a burden on the forward's shoulders
Many of the great strikers in world football have worn the number 9 shirt for clubs and national teams – from Alain Shearer to Ronaldo, from Gabriel Batistuta to Robert Lewandowski.
At Chelsea, however, the No.9 seems to be carrying a spell.
Throughout the Premier League era, stamford bridge players struggled wearing the iconic No. 9 shirt, with head coach Thomas Tuchel agreeing that "it's cursed".
So which players wore this No. 9 shirt, and how bad was it?
Early Premier League (1992-2000)
The first player to wear the number 9 shirt for Chelsea during the Premier League era was Tony Cascarino, between 1992 and 1994. He set an unfortunate precedent for the players at Stamford Bridge, scoring six league goals in two seasons.
However, the following two players had even more success in the no. 9 shirt – Mark Stein wore the no. 9 shirt between 1994-1996 and scored a sizable 25 goals in 63 Blues games. You know, at that time they were still the mid-range team of the Abramovich era.
Stein was followed by Gianluca Vialli, who served as Chelsea Number 9 from 1996-1999, where he achieved legendary status. Before becoming head coach in 1998, he won the FA Cup, League Cup, European Super Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
However, Spell No. 9 was firmly established by Chris Sutton in the 1999-2000 season, who moved from Blackburn for £10m and scored just one league goal in the entire season.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (2000- 2004)
In front of these stinky guys, let's pay tribute to Chelsea's great, arguably the greatest Number 9 player of the Premier League era.
Hasselbaink signed from Atletico Madrid for £15m, setting a club record. Hasselbaink scored 26 goals in his first Blues season and 29 in 2001-02.
His goal scores dropped slightly in his last two games for Stamford Bridge, but he was a key component of the last team of the Abramovich era before being sold to Middlesbrough in 2004.
Mattea-Kegerman (2004 - 05)
The 2004-05 season was historic for Chelsea fans, who swept the Premier League under Jose Mourinho and won the Premier League with the addition of several stars.
However, for every Lampard, there is a Kehrmann. The Serbian made a name for himself in Eindhoven but scored just four goals in 25 games and was sold to Atletico Madrid at the end of the season.
Crespo (2005 - 06)
The Argentine veteran filled the No. 9 void after Kerzmann's departure – although the current narrative is that Crespo was a mediocre Chelsea player, he was actually part of Chelsea's second consecutive league title.
Crespo scored 13 goals in all competitions, yet he and his family have never settled in England, meaning Blues fans have never seen him at his peak.
He was loaned to Inter for the following season and completed his contract with Chelsea in Italy.
Bolaruz (2006 - 2007)
There is no doubt that the strangest and most forgotten player in the no. 9 shirt at Chelsea is the Dutch centre-back. Yes, a centre-back wears a centre-forward shirt.
Bolaroz signed from Hamburg in the summer of 2006, and after Crespo left, he was given one of the few free shirt numbers in the first team.
Injuries and loss of form meant he rarely had the opportunity to show his No. 9 on the pitch, and he was sold after a season.
Sidwell (2007 - 08)
The spell of Chelsea's no.9 shirt is now firmly established – whether it's an impressive signing or simply a player who isn't good enough to even need to be worn by a striker anymore.
Sidwell meets all three of these conditions. The midfielder came on a free transfer from Reading after an impressive game for the newly promoted team.
He did make 25 appearances in the season before his sale, thus continuing another No. 9 trend at Chelsea – the player lasted only one season.
Franco di Santo (2008-09)
The best thing about Di Santo's year as Chelsea's Number 9 was that at least that number came back with a striker.
The young Argentine didn't have enough experience and talent to lift the curse and didn't have a season's time limit, having been loaned to Blackburn in 2009-10 before moving to Vigan permanently.
He played eight Premier League games and did not score for Chelsea.
Fernando Torres (2011 - 14)
Chelsea did not register the No. 9 shirt from Di Santo's departure until January 2011, but Torres was believed to be able to break the curse once and for all.
Torres came from Liverpool for £50m, but his move is now considered one of the most failed in Premier League history.
In the 2012 Champions League final, his goal locked chelsea's place, while not scoring in the 903 minutes after his debut, or his poor empty goal error against Manchester United in September 2011, offset his goal.
Radammel Falcao (2015 - 16)
Chelsea signed Falcao without a No.9 player in 2014-15, despite his poor performances when he was loaned to Manchester United last season.
The Colombian failed to reverse his Premier League fortunes at Stamford Bridge, scoring just one goal in 10 games.
Alvaro Morata (2017 - 18)
Chelsea lost the No. 9 player again in 2016-17, after which they tried to make up for the striker's woes with another Spanish player who was signed at a high price.
However, Morata signed a 5-year contract for £70m, but he remained unimpressed at Chelsea and was allowed to leave on loan just 18 months later.
In the 2019-20 season, he returned to the game, but he put on the number 29 while trying to escape the cursed jersey.
Higuain (2019)
As a star for Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus, as well as Argentina's World Cup finalist, Higuain remains one of the most forgotten Chelsea No. 9 players.
After Morata was allowed to leave, he was loaned to Chelsea from January 2019 and spent six months there, but he never adjusted to the rhythm of the Premier League as he often looked unwell.
Scoring 5 goals in 18 games has not been impressive, and he returned to Italy at the end of the season.
Tammy Abraham (2019 – 21)
After signing Aston Villa on loan – under Chelsea's transfer ban – new coach Frank Lampard believes Abraham, who comes from academy, will be his No. 9 player by 2019-20.
The Briton was impressed under Lampard, who scored 18 goals in 47 games that season to help Chelsea qualify for the Champions League.
However, the following season we saw a drop in form – only 12 goals in the whole season – an ankle injury and Thomas Tuchel as manager.
Abraham, who was sold to Rome in the summer of 2021, was impressed in Serie A. He is the best of the Chelsea No. 9 players.
Lukaku (2021 - 22)
Much of Abraham's deal was due to the return of Lukaku, who signed the club record for £97.5 million, considered a major statement by the Champions League-winning team.
After scoring eight goals in 26 Premier League games, it's still hard to understand how bad things are going. Injuries, poor form, lack of interest, unwise media interviews – all of which are thought to be reasons why Lukaku was lifeless when he returned to England.
Now that he's back at Inter, Chelsea's no.9 spell is still unbreakable.