New Chelsea signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has already been labelled a "flop" by a section of the club's supporters after he chose to wear jersey No.9 for the Premier League giants.
The 33-year-old former Gabon international arrived at Stamford Bridge on deadline day from Barcelona, and was handed the number that was left vacant following the loan exit of Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan.
Aubameyang, who had previously turned out for Borussia Dortmund and most recently Arsenal, signed a two-year deal with the Blues. In recent years, the No.9 shirt at Chelsea has not been a source of success for strikers.
For example, despite arriving at the Bridge with a huge reputation, Lukaku managed only eight goals in 26 top-flight games while Tammy Abraham scored 12 goals in a season before he was released to join AS Roma.
Another player to have donned the jersey was Gonzalo Higuain in the 2019 campaign, where he managed five goals in 18 matches. Other players to have flopped in the shirt include Alvaro Morata, Radamel Falcao, Fernando Torres, Hernan Crespo, and Mateja Kezman.
The decision by Aubameyang to go for the 'cursed' number has not gone down well with the club's followers on social media, who insist he will struggle at the club, just like his predecessors.
"Surely he wrote his failure by his own hands," Abdi Folmaroodi wrote on Facebook, adding: "The cursed number, somebody must help this guy out."
George Kwarteng Adenta wrote: "No.9 jersey is not good for Chelsea," while James Lewis opined: "Oh why the number 9? He’s officially gonna flop now! Let’s just face it that number is cursed."
Chidex Gid explained: "Aubameyang is a flop already for picking number 9," adding: "If he's good, Barca will not even think of selling him and be signing more strikers."
"And that's where the bad luck begins, let him ask Lukaku for a little advice...," wrote Edgar Rami Saint-Jean while King Cosmos called on Chelsea to sack whoever gave him the number: "Whoever gave him the number 9 needs to be sacked! He's Chelsea real enemy."
"Everything was okay until the number 9 showed up, we pray he overcomes this curse," added Bridget June Light while Ross Wilkins opined: "Number 9?!?!?! Just when I started to think we had a striker that could score goals!
"Another flop incoming due to the cursed shirt!"
Meanwhile another group of fans are confident the forward, who wore jersey number 14 at Arsenal and 17 at Barcelona and Dortmund, will defeat the curse and shine for Chelsea.
"Auba will do well with it, he came and and he delivered at Barcelona," said Ray Shadesboss Adams, adding: "We must trust the process and I know Auba will score on his first game."
King Poyooyo wrote: "There has been some great strikers of Chelsea who wore the number 9 and succeeded and you shall be one of those," while Cleo Mwee said: "It's just superstition, he will definitely be skilful regardless of the jersey number."
Ighenumah Joseph believes Aubameyang will win trophies with the number: "Great, the number 9 shirt isn’t cursed," he said, adding: "I hope to see you score goals and winning trophies wearing it."
Chukwuka Peter Iyke was also positive: "You are going to excel with this number 9," while Chibuikem Wisdom Sr wrote: "There’s nothing like a number being cursed... players just couldn’t adapt and some of them who wore it were way too lazy to work for it and none was ready to keep on fighting for the team."
He will hope to make his debut when Chelsea host West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
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