Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has refused to rule out the myth that Chelsea’s number nine shirt is cursed ahead of the new season – with Romelu Lukaku’s departure from the club adding to a long list of failed holders of the famous jersey.
Lukaku joined for £100m from Inter Milan last summer, although he failed to make a mark in his second stint at Stamford Bridge with just five Premier League goals.
Classed as a failure by many before being loaned back to Lombardy, he joins stars such as Radamel Falcao, Fernando Torres and Mateja Kezman in having failed to produce the goods in the shirt.
And Tuchel admitted that due to his superstitions, he doesn’t rule out the fact that it may be cursed – and added that he may want to bring in another player ahead of the transfer window’s closure.
“People tell me it’s cursed… It’s not the case that we leave it open for tactical reasons,” said Tuchel, as relayed by Goal.
“Surprisingly, nobody wants to touch it. Everybody who is here longer than me tells me, ‘Ah, you know, he had the nine and he did not score and he had the nine and did also not score’.
“So we now we have a moment where nobody wants to touch the number nine. I’m also superstitious, I can understand why players maybe don’t touch it and have other preferences.
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“Maybe we bring one more player, maybe not… We have options but at the same time, we know how many games are coming. So let’s see if we can still maybe sign a player.”
The Blues have already signed Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella and Carney Chukwuemeka this summer amongst a host of youth signings, and are expected to add at least two more signings ahead of a season that will see them compete on all fronts.