Romelu Lukaku Becomes Chelsea's New Number 9

Update: Chelsea have just announced that Romelu Lukaku will take over the number nine shirt after Tammy Abraham left the club for Roma.

Romelu Lukaku officially joined Chelsea from Inter Milan last for a club record fee of £97 million (€115 million, $135 million). Rather than number 18, which was reported earlier, Lukaku will now instead take over the number nine shirt, the same he wore at Inter Milan last season.

Romelu Lukaku's Chelsea presentations in 2021 and 2011

Obviously, Romelu Lukaku already played for Chelsea back in the early 2010s when the Belgian striker joined from RSC Anderlecht where he wore number 14 and 36, while he also picked number 18 for Chelsea back then.

However, his first years at Stamford Bridge were not successful and he was loaned out several times before eventually joining Everton on a permanent deal in the summer of 2014.

Since then, Lukaku fought back and made steady progress first joining Manchester United and afterwards Inter Milan where he stayed the last two years and heavily contributed to a long-awaited Serie A title for the club.

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What do you think of Romelu Lukaku taking over the "cursed" Chelsea number 9 shirt? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.