Gonzalo Higuain joins Chelsea's erratic lineage of Premier League No 9s

Adam Hurrey 24 January 2019 • 9:00am

From Cascarino to Higuain: Chelsea's Premier League number nines

At first glance, a record of 228 goals in 740 games looks like that of a very durable, if hardly Ballon d'Or-troubling, centre forward. In fact, it's the aggregate output of one of the most motley of crews: the baker's dozen of Premier League players who have graced Chelsea's no 9 shirt.

Passable, past-it and simply passing through; the lucky thirteen are a diverse group of beanpole nuisances, once-fearsome goalscorers secretly blunted by injury, intermittently deadly finishers and, of course, Khalid Boulahrouz.

Even allowing for a curious late-2010s period of 61 games and just a single goal - Steve Sidwell against Hull City in the Carling Cup, September 2007 - the Chelsea no 9 shirt perhaps isn't quite as cursed as some believe. After all, its goal record compares rather tidily with that of Frank Lampard, the club's all-time record scorer, who racked up 240 goals in his 750 games for Chelsea and England.

Meanwhile, Peter Crouch - the former Stamford Bridge ballboy who came within a dubious transfer rumour or two of taking the shirt for himself last season - boasts 227 goals in 770 games and eternal Chelsea favourite Gianfranco Zola 238 goals in 796 appearances.

Late on Wednesday night, Gonzalo Higuain became the temporary incumbent of the shirt. Precisely where the 31-year-old will end up among the former Chelsea no 9s of the Premier League era is unclear, but history suggests he will need to hit the ground running. From the least spectacular to the most devastating, let's examine the lineage of Chelsea No 9s...

Gonzalo Higuain of Chelsea signs for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge — Gonzalo Higuain has finally sealed his move to Chelsea Credit: Chelsea FC

13. Franco Di Santo (2008/09)

Di Santo did not make the grade at Stamford Bridge Credit: CHELSEA FC

16 games, 0 goals in the No 9 shirt

A 6ft 4in teenager, inexplicably once dubbed “the New Maradona”, Di Santo was initially prolific for Chelsea’s reserves. 11 years and four clubs later, the Argentine has still scored just 34 league goals.

12. Radamel Falcao (2015/16)

Falcao arrived at Chelsea a spent force and was unable to revive his fortunes at Stamford Bridge Credit: PA

12 games, 1 goal

With Fernando Torres sent on loan with Atletico Madrid, Chelsea’s no 9 shirt needed a new injury-plagued, once-deadly striker to fill it and - during Mourinho’s spectacular annus horribilis of 2015/16 - Falcao fit the bill perfectly.

After just one goal in 10 games, a muscle injury ruled the Colombian out for over four months, and he returned to Monaco with barely a word.

11. Steve Sidwell (2007/08)

Sidwell (left) was something of a background figure at Chelsea after his free transfer from Reading Credit: GETTY IMAGES

25 games, 1 goal

As Abramovich dramatically tightened the Chelsea purse-strings in the summer of 2007 - which played some part in Mourinho’s shock departure in September - the No 9 shirt passed to a free transfer from Reading.

Sidwell insisted he wasn’t at Stamford Bridge “to make up the numbers”, but that turned out to be precisely his role, and he left for Aston Villa a year later.

10. Chris Sutton (1999/00)

Sutton failed to live up to his £11m price tag and was sold to Celtic after just one season Credit: PA

39 games, 3 goals

Squandered two gilt-edged chance on his Chelsea debut on the opening day of the 1999/00 season, and the £11m target-man looked an awkward fit from there on, scoring just three goals before moving to Celtic the following summer.

9. Tony Cascarino (1993/94)

Cascarino's post-Chelsea career enjoyed an unexpected Indian summer with Marseille Credit: GETTY IMAGES

21 games, 4 goals

Booed on his Chelsea debut, thanks in part to his Millwall connections, Cascarino later admitted his “career was in freefall” during his time at Stamford Bridge.

Released on a free in 1994, Cascarino joined Marseille - relegated to the French second division by a match-fixing scandal - scored 61 goals in two seasons and became a cult hero.

8. Khalid Boulahrouz (2006/07)

Boulahrouz, an unorthodox choice for the Chelsea No 9 shirt in 2006 Credit: GETTY IMAGES

20 games, 0 goals

Signed from Hamburg to provide cover for Mourinho’s first-choice Chelsea defenders, the Dutchman was bafflingly given the No 9 shirt.

A superb man-marking job on Ronaldinho in a 1-0 win over Barcelona at Stamford Bridge was comfortably his standout moment for the club, but his place in football history has long been confirmed as “the decreasingly surprising entry in list-based articles about players who wore the Chelsea No 9 shirt”.

7. Mateja Kezman (2004/05)

Kezman did at least score the decisive goal to win Chelsea's first silverware under Jose Mourinho Credit: GETTY IMAGES

41 games, 7 goals

An astonishing record of 105 goals in 122 league games for PSV Eindhoven earned Kezman a £5.3m move to Stamford Bridge to play under the newly-installed Jose Mourinho.

Despite some notable cameos - including a goal in the Carling Cup final win over Liverpool and a superb performance against Barcelona in the Champions League - the Serbian left for Atletico Madrid after just one season in the No 9 shirt.

6. Alvaro Morata (2017/18)

Morata has cut a forlorn figure for much of his two seasons at Chelsea Credit: OFFSIDE

48 games, 15 goals

After five seasons as a bit-part player with Real Madrid and Juventus, the £60m Morata in 2017 became Chelsea’s latest attempt to find another Didier Drogba or Diego Costa. Seven goals for the Spaniard in his first seven games suggested they may finally have cracked it, only for Morata to lose form and confidence, appearing to struggle with the physical side of the Premier League.

After a season in the No 9 shirt, he switched his squad number to 29 - in tribute to his twin sons, born on July 29th - but now looks resigned to continuing his career away from Stamford Bridge.

5. Mark Stein (1994-1996)

Stein set a Premier League goalscoring record with Chelsea Credit: GETTY IMAGES

39 games, 11 goals

Signed for £1.5m after firing third-tier Stoke to promotion, Stein embarked on a run of scoring in seven consecutive games, a Premier League record that stood for 18 years until being surpassed by Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Eventually relinquished the No 9 shirt to Gianluca Vialli before returning to the Second Division with Bournemouth in 1998.

4. Fernando Torres (2011-2015)

Torres arrived at Chelsea a £50m shadow of the striker Liverpool had signed four years earlier Credit: GETTY IMAGES

172 games, 45 goals

Signed from Liverpool for a British-record £50m on the January transfer deadline in 2011, but was already a spent force. “We knew Chelsea did not sign the player they thought,” his former captain Jamie Carragher recently wrote in his Telegraph column, “he had not had a summer off for the previous three years and was constantly trying to repair his body.”

The 26-year-old took 14 games - and over ten hours - to score his first goal in Chelsea’s No 9 shirt and, despite countless false dawns during his four seasons at Stamford Bridge, Torres cut a despairing, tortured figure.

3. Hernan Crespo (2005/06)

Crespo showed intermittent flashes of his world-class finishing ability in a Chelsea shirt Credit: THE TELEGRAPH

42 games, 13 goals

Signed by Claudio Ranieri during the Abramovich-funded spending spree of 2003, classy penalty-box operator Crespo didn’t assume the No9 shirt until returning in 2005 from a loan spell with Milan.

A stunning goal to break the hearts of newly-promoted Wigan got him into Mourinho’s good books, before a mid-season run of 7 goals in 9 games kept Chelsea on course to retain their Premier League title.

2. Gianluca Vialli (1996-1999)

Vialli was a hugely popular member of Chelsea's first Premier League foreign legion Credit: ACTION IMAGES

88 games, 40 goals

The 32-year-old, fresh from captaining Juventus to Champions League glory, took advantage of the new Bosman ruling to join Chelsea in the summer of 1996.

Despite some initial settling-in problems - he described one trip to Elland Road as “like playing rugby” - Vialli’s selfless work ethic and eye for a spectacular finish endeared him swiftly to the Chelsea fans, and he took over as player-manager in 1998.

1. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (2000-2004)

Hasselbaink's explosive right foot alone earns him the right to be called Chelsea's greatest Premier League No 9 Credit: PA

177 games, 88 goals

Chelsea’s first - and only - unqualified Premier League success in their No 9 shirt. Brought back to England after a prolific season in La Liga with Atletico Madrid, the former Leeds striker hit the ground running.

55 goals in his first two seasons featured countless explosive finishes and a perfect hat-trick against Spurs, before he fell out of first-team favour at the start of the Abramovich era.