The curse of the Chelsea No.9 shirt: Can Liam Delap avoid the same fate as Alvaro Morata, Fernando Torres and more at Stamford Bridge?

The first player to wear the No.9 in the Premier League era for Chelsea was Tony Cascarino, between 1992-1994. He set the unfortunate precedent for players to don the jersey, though, as the Ireland international scored just six league goals across two seasons.

However the following two players enjoyed rather more success in the No.9 - Mark Stein wore it between 1994-1996, knocking in a respectable 25 goals across 63 games in Chelsea blue. This was when they were a mid-table side in the pre-Roman Abramovich era, remember.

Stein was followed by Gianluca Vialli, who achieved legendary status at Chelsea in his time as the No.9 from 1996-1999. He won the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup - before becoming manager in 1998.

However the No.9 curse was firmly re-established in the 1999-2000 season by Chris Sutton, who scored only one league goal all campaign after arriving in a £10 million move from Blackburn Rovers.

Before the stinkers, let us salute a Chelsea great and arguably the greatest No.9 for the club in the Premier League era.

A club-record signing for £15m from Atletico Madrid, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored on his debut on his way to bagging 26 goals in his first Blues season, and 29 in 2001-02. His goal tally fell slightly in his final two Stamford Bridge campaigns, but he formed a key part of the final pre-Abramovich era team, before being sold to Middlesbrough in 2004.

The 2004-05 season was historic for Chelsea fans, as they swept to the Premier League title under Jose Mourinho, on the back of several star signings.

However, for every Frank Lampard, there was a Mateja Kezman. The Serbian arrived with a big reputation from his time at PSV, but scored just four goals in 25 games and was sold on to Atletico Madrid at season's end.

Hernan Crespo took over the vacant No.9 after Kezman left - and despite those who claim Crespo was an underwhelming Chelsea player, he was actually integral in their second-straight league crown.

Crespo scored 13 goals in all competitions - however he and his family never settled in England, which meant Blues fans never saw him at his peak. He was loaned to Inter the following season and saw out his Chelsea contract in Italy.

Unquestionably the strangest and most forgettable incumbent of the No.9 shirt at Chelsea was Dutch central defender Khalid Boulharouz. Yep, a centre-back wore THE shirt of a centre-forward.

Boulahrouz was signed from Hamburg in summer 2006 and, after Crespo had left, took one of the few free first-team shirt numbers available. Injuries and loss of form meant, however, that he rarely got the chance to display the No.9 on the field, and he was sold after one season.

The curse of the Chelsea No.9 was now firmly established - whether by underwhelming signings or players who simply were not good enough, it did not even have to be worn by a striker any more.

Steve Sidwell fit all three of those categories. The central midfielder joined from Reading on a free after an impressive campaign for the newly-promoted Royals, but Chelsea was too much of a step up. He did make 25 appearances that season before being sold, thus continuing another No.9 trend at Chelsea - players lasting just one season.

The best thing to say about Franco Di Santo's year as Chelsea No.9 is that at least the number was back with a striker again. The young Argentine was never experienced or talented enough to lift the curse, or the one season time limit as he left on loan for Blackburn Rovers in 2009-10 before moving to Wigan Athletic permanently after that.

He played eight Premier League games and scored no goals for Chelsea.

From Di Santo's departure until January 2011, Chelsea did not have a registered No.9 - but the man who took the jersey was expected to break the curse once and for all. Fernando Torres joined from Liverpool for a then-British-record fee of £50m amid much fanfare, but his move is now regarded as one of the great flops in Premier League history.

High points, such as the goal which sealed Chelsea's place in the 2012 Champions League final, are balanced out by Torres going 903 minutes before scoring his first goal for the Blue, or his abysmal open-goal miss against Manchester United in September 2011.

After not having a No.9 for the 2014-15 campaign, Chelsea signed Radamel Falcao despite him having struggled on loan at Manchester United in the previous season.

The Colombian was not able to reverse his Premier League fortunes at Stamford Bridge, either, as he scored only one goal in 10 matches. The 29-year-old was thus shown the door in the summer of 2016 as he returned to Monaco.

Chelsea again went without a No.9 in 2016-17, before attempting to remedy their striker woes with another big-money Spanish signing. However, Alvaro Morata - who cost £70m and signed a five-year deal - never fully impressed at Stamford Bridge and was allowed to leave on loan after just 18 months in London.

He returned for the 2019-20 season, but then wore the No.29 as he attempted to escape the cursed jersey.

A star for Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus, and a World Cup finalist for Argentina, Gonzalo Higuain is still one of the most forgettable Chelsea No.9s.

He spent six months on loan at Chelsea from January 2019, after Morata was allowed to leave, but never adjusted to the pace of the Premier League as he often appeared unfit. Five goals in 18 matches was an underwhelming return, and he went back to Italy at the end of the season.

After impressing on loan at Aston Villa - and with Chelsea under a transfer embargo - new manager Frank Lampard put his trust in academy product Tammy Abraham as his No.9 ahead of 2019-20. The Englishman impressed, scoring 18 goals in 47 games that season as Chelsea qualified for the Champions League.

The following campaign, however, saw Abraham suffer a loss of form - only 12 goals all season - an ankle injury, and the arrival of Tuchel as Lampard's replacement. He was sold to Roma in the summer of 2021, but Abraham must go down as one of the better recent Chelsea No.9s.

Abraham was largely sold due to the return of Romelu Lukaku, who at £97.5m was a club-record signing and viewed as a huge statement by the Champions League winners.

However, he managed just eight goals in 26 Premier League games as injuries, a loss of form, lack of interest and ill-advised media interviews were all blamed for Lukaku's lacklustre return to England. He was subsequently loaned out to Inter and Roma before joining Napoli on a permanent basis in 2024.

A favourite of Tuchel's from their time together at Borussia Dortmund, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arrived at Chelsea late in the 2022 summer transfer window as they paid Barcelona just over £10m to bring the ex-Arsenal captain back to England.

However, Tuchel's sacking a few weeks later ruined any hope Aubameyang had of making a name for himself at Stamford Bridge as he scored just once in 15 Premier League outings while he was left out of Chelsea's squad for the Champions League knockout stages by Graham Potter. He was released at the end of the campaign before joining Marseille.