Liam Delap will attempt to end the curse of Chelsea’s number nine shirt after completing his £30million move from Ipswich.
The shirt had been unused for two full seasons, former manager Thomas Tuchel admitting “nobody wants to touch it”, after its last dozen occupants struggled to make a prolonged impact – including three club-record signings up front, but also a holding midfielder and a certain Dutch defender.
Our new No.9. 😍
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) June 5, 2025
Here, the PA news agency looks at the “Curse of Khalid Boulahrouz”.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 2022-23
After arriving with a broken jaw sustained in a robbery at his Barcelona home and seeing his former Borussia Dortmund boss Tuchel sacked the day after his debut, the ex-Arsenal star failed to establish himself in west London. He was not even included in the squad for the Champions League knock-out stages, despite scoring two of his three Chelsea goals in the group stage.
Romelu Lukaku, 2021-22
The Belgium striker returned from Inter Milan for £97.5m for a second spell at the club but within months, his frustrations became clear in an interview with Sky Sport Italia.
Despite 15 goals in all competitions, it was no surprise when he was loaned back to Inter then Roma before joining Napoli.
Tammy Abraham, 2019-21
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was the last inarguably-successful Chelsea number nine but amid over £250m spent to fill the troublesome shirt in the 18 years since his departure, academy product Abraham produced perhaps the most successful spell with 30 goals in two seasons to earn a move to Roma under former Blues boss Jose Mourinho.
Gonzalo Higuain, 2018-19
The Argentinian’s loan from Juventus yielded just five goals in 18 appearances.
Alvaro Morata, 2017-18
A then club-record buy for £60m, the Spaniard scored 15 goals in his debut season but fell out of favour, netting nine more as number 29 before joining Atletico Madrid.
Radamel Falcao, 2015-16
The Colombian scored once in 12 games in an injury-hit season.
Fernando Torres, 2011-14
The then British-record £50m signing from Liverpool got the longest run at making the Blues’ number nine shirt work for him, wearing it 172 times across three-and-a-half seasons.
He scored 45 goals, including a memorable Champions League semi-final clincher against Barcelona, but several prolonged droughts saw him move on to AC Milan, on loan, and then Atletico Madrid.
Franco Di Santo, 2008-09
Fourteen scoreless substitute appearances were all Di Santo had to show for his time in west London.
Steve Sidwell, 2007-08
The former Reading midfielder managed only 24 appearances, scoring once. A largely-defensive player, he would have been a glaringly unlikely number nine, had it not been for his immediate predecessor…
Khalid Boulahrouz, 2006-07
The versatile Netherlands defender was assigned one of the few available numbers after his £8.5m arrival from Hamburg. He lasted one season and 23 appearances in all competitions before a loan to Sevilla and a permanent exit to Stuttgart.
Hernan Crespo, 2005-06
The Argentina striker had already spent a season at Stamford Bridge wearing number 21 – scoring 12 goals – and a year on loan at AC Milan before Mourinho recalled him and gave him number nine. He added another 13 goals and a league title but soon left for Inter.
Mateja Kezman, 2004-05
Inheriting the shirt from Hasselbaink, Kezman scored just seven goals in his sole season.
