‘Nobody wants to touch it’

Thomas Tuchel has insisted Chelsea did not deliberately leave the number nine shirt free with a future new signing in mind.

Chelsea’s no.9 remains vacant after Romelu Lukaku’s return to Inter Milan on loan, and Tuchel said none of the Blues’ current stars wanted to take the shirt.

The Stamford Bridge club will continue to look at adding a striker to their ranks this summer, with Barcelona’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang understood to remain in consideration.

The last six Chelsea stars to wear the nine shirt have struggled for a lasting impact in west London, leaving Tuchel to joke that the Blues’ central striking number still harbours bad luck.

“It’s cursed, it’s cursed, people tell me it’s cursed!” joked Tuchel.

“It’s not the case that we leave it open for tactical reasons, or for some players in the pipeline that come in and naturally take it.

“There was not a big demand for number nine, when like 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 nine and he did not score and he had the nine and did also not score’.

“So now we have a moment where nobody wants to touch the number nine.”

Tammy Abraham insisted he had no qualms taking on the number nine challenge when sporting the squad number for two years at Chelsea, before heading off to Serie A to impress with Roma.

Abraham still left Chelsea with unfinished business, however, and then Lukaku’s solitary campaign back at Stamford Bridge ended sourly.

Fernando Torres, Radamel Falcao, Alvaro Morata and Gonzalo Higuain have all tried and failed for a lasting impression as Chelsea’s number nine.

Tuchel remains relaxed enough about the situation to have joked openly about it though, and the Blues could yet recruit a central striker who would naturally take the shirt.

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Chelsea have pushed hard for a transformative summer under new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, with Marc Cucurella the latest high-profile and big-money recruit.

Tuchel still believes the Blues are in transition but vowed not to limit his team’s potential for the new campaign.

“I think we will not have our highest level we can reach throughout the whole season,” said Tuchel.

“I think that’s normal for everybody but, for us, it’s absolutely normal and we should not be too concerned…