Romelu Lukaku will wear the troubled number nine shirt as he tries to become the final piece in Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea jigsaw.
The £97.5m arrival from Inter has been given the shirt worn with great success by previous forwards such as Jimmy Flloyd Hasselbaink and Gianluca Vialli. Equally, it has weighed heavily on the shoulders of continental stars like Fernando Torres, Hernan Crespo, Alvaro Morata and Gonzalo Higuain.
Lukaku, 28, revealed at a press conference this afternoon: ‘I got the number nine and I am very happy and very fortunate to be in this situation.
It is good to be back. As a footballer you fight to achieve you dreams. I’m here now can’t wait to be on the pitch and perform with my teammates.’
Ahead of signing his contract at Chelsea this week, Lukaku admitted that he had spoken to Chelsea legend Didier Drogba about what to expect.
Drogba, a prolific scorer for Chelsea, always wore the number 11 and Lukaku said: ‘Didier said he is really happy with the improvement I made in the last couple of seasons but also said there is more work to be done.
‘I want to achieve the maximum and it’s all about improvement.
‘The last couple of years at Inter have been great but I am hungry to get started here.’