Nobody wants to touch ‘cursed’ Chelsea No 9 shirt, admits Thomas Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel has admitted “nobody wants to touch” the Chelsea No 9 shirt vacated by Romelu Lukaku because of a “curse” that stretches back to the days of Fernando Torres.

Lukaku rejoined Internazionale on loan in June after returning to Stamford Bridge in a club-record £97.5m deal and scoring only 15 goals in 44 appearances last season. Chelsea, who completed the signing of Marc Cucurella from Brighton on Friday in a deal that could reach £62m, are considering a move for Barcelona’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after last month rejecting an opportunity to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.

The No 9 shirt has been worn by several world-class strikers who have not lived up to expectations, including Torres, who managed 20 goals in more than 100 Premier League appearances between 2011 and 2014, Radamel Falcao, Álvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuaín and Lukaku. Tuchel revealed it had gained a reputation for failure at Chelsea.

“It’s cursed, it’s cursed, people tell me it’s cursed,” he said. “It’s not the case that we leave it open for tactical reasons, for some players in the pipeline that come in and naturally take it.

“There was not a big demand for No 9. Players sometimes want to change numbers but, surprisingly, nobody wants to touch it. Everybody who is longer than me in the club tells me: ‘Ah, you know, like he had the 9 and he did not score and he had the 9 and did also not score.’ So we now we have a moment where nobody wants to touch the No 9.”

Chelsea's No 9 'curse' is nothing new – Mick Harford, Mark Stein, Gianluca Vialli and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink delivered goals while wearing the number, but since 2004 the shirt has been passed through several misfiring strikers – with midfielder Steve Sidwell and defender