Aubameyang faces Chelsea curse that is 18 years old after taking No 9

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is hoping that he can break the No 9 shirt curse at Chelsea that has caused them issues over the past 18 years. The Gabon international returned to the Premier League from Barcelona in the dying embers of deadline day.

Aubameyang spent four years at Arsenal between 2018 and 2022 before joining Barca following a fall out with Mikel Arteta that saw him stripped of the club captaincy. He scored 92 goals in 163 appearances during that time, and Chelsea will need him to return to England in that same rich vein of form.

Towards the end of his time with the Gunners, he did appear to lose his clinical streak, but Blues fans will be hoping that his short stint at Barca will have recaptured his form of old. Especially as he has been given the No 9 shirt, which has hampered numerous strikers over the years. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was the last great player to wear it back in 2004.

Several signings have underperformed since then while donning the iconic number, with Mateja Kezman, Hernan Crespo and Khalid Boulahrouz all hardly finding the back of the net. Steve Sidwell then broke the trend of only strikers struggling whilst wearing the No 9, before Franco di Santo, Fernando Torres and Falcao had unsuccessful attempts at breaking the curse.

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In more recent times, Morata, Gonzalo Higuain and Tammy Abraham all struggled with the shirt, though the latter of the trio looked likely to break the curse until the arrival of Thomas Tuchel. After making a £97.5million move from Inter Milan last summer, Romelu Lukaku was handed the No 9 shirt to add even further pressure to his return, and the fact that the Belgium international is back in the Serie A already – though just for a season – shows that it may not have helped.

Tuchel was even asked earlier this summer about why he had not registered a No 9, prior to Aubameyang’s arrival, to which he replied: “It’s cursed! People tell me it’s cursed! It’s not the case that we leave it open for tactical reasons or for some players in the pipeline to come in and naturally take it.

“There was not a big demand for the number nine. Players sometimes want to change numbers but surprisingly nobody wants to touch it. Like, everybody who is longer than me in the club, tells me ‘you know he had the nine and didn’t score and he had the nine and he also did not score.’ Now we have a moment, nobody wants to touch the number nine.”

It remains to be seen whether Aubameyang is able to break the curse, or if he will fall victim to the dreaded No 9. The former Borussia Dortmund forward returns to the Premier League with a point to prove, though he may not be available immediately whilst he nurses a jaw injury.

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