In football, the number nine shirt holds a significant sense of importance and goalscoring responsibility, mainly due to the truly great strikers who have gone before us.
Marksmen such as Alfredo Di Stefano, Ronaldo, Andriy Shevchenko and Gabriel Batistuta, to name just a few, wore the number with such distinction, creating a intangible aura and a hefty burden for players who don the famous number at various levels of the game.
For some bizarre reason, the number nine shirt at Arsenal has become somewhat of a poison chalice ever since the retirement of distinguished striker Alan Smith back in 1995. In the Arsene Wenger era, we have seen many a player attempt to wear the number nine with some sort of success and longevity, but ultimately, have only added themselves to the ever growing list of Gunners succumbing to this mysterious hoodoo.
The recent departure of Lukas Podolski to Galatasary after an indifferent three-year spell in North London has again bought the curse of the number nine back to the attention of Arsenal fans who are absolutely mystified as to why no one can achieve any sort of consistency both in front of goal and in their overall performance wearing the ill-fated number.
We now take a look back at the long list of Arsenal players who have fallen to the curse of the number nine shirt.
It all began back in Wenger’s first season at the helm back in 1996-97 where eccentric midfielder Paul Merson was the first to fall victim to the curse. Merson lasted just one season at the club before leaving in somewhat unusual circumstances to first division club Middlesbrough, where he would double his yearly wage. Merson’s Arsenal form deteriorated as the season progressed as he battled drug and alcohol problems.
The signing of prodigious 17-year-old striker Nicolas Anelka for £500,000 was seen as one of Wenger’s greatest masterstrokes in the transfer market, as the Frenchman became an integral figure in Arsenal’s league and cup double success in 1998. The following season Anelka won the PFA Young Player of the Year, scoring 17 goals. But it all went pair-shaped from there as he and his entourage engineered a big-money move to Real Madrid for £22.5 million.
Next was Croatian striker Davor Suker who starred at the 1998 World Cup, sharing the Golden Boot award with Brazilian Ronaldo. He joined in the summer of 1999 as part of the Anelka deal and netted eight goals in 22 Premier League appearances. His missed penalty in the UEFA Cup final shootout against Galatasary in 2000 all but sealed his passage out of the club.
In 2001, 20-year-old Englishman Francis Jeffers was signed from Everton for a lofty fee of £8million and was nicknamed ‘fox in the box’ due to the predatory striking instincts that he displayed as a teenager at the Toffees. His three-year stint at Arsenal was interrupted by injury and indifferent form, managing just eight goals in 40 appearances. He scored just 24 goals in 193 club appearances since he was sold by Arsenal, featuring for various clubs in England, Scotland, Australia and Malta.
Spaniard Jose Antonio Reyes was signed for a then club record fee of £10.5 million rising to £17 million in January 2004. His finest moment in an Arsenal shirt came against Chelsea in the FA Cup in February 2004, scoring a memorable double to send the Blues packing from the competition and showed glimpses of true quality that excited Gunners fans. From there, it all went downhill as he felt the effects of the physical nature of the English game and was rumoured to struggle with the English language, leading to an obvious breakdown in communications with his teammates. He was reportedly homesick and was inevitably loaned to Real Madrid in 2006.
As part of the Reyes deal, burley Brazilian forward Julio Baptisita went in the opposite direction and joined Arsenal, also on a 12-month loan deal. ‘The Beast’ was at his best in the League Cup, hitting four against Liverpool at Anfield followed by a double against bitter rival Tottenham. However, he managed just three in 24 league appearances and later returned to Real. Arsenal did not take up the offer to sign him permanently.
The curse seemed like it had been put to bed after the acquisition of £7.5 million Croatian striker Eduardo. He shone over the Christmas period of the 2007-08 season, delighting the Arsenal faithful with his ruthlessness in front of goal as well as his impressive technical ability. After sending Arsenal top of the table, the curse struck again as he suffered a horrific broken leg and dislocated ankle after a disgraceful tackle from Birmingham’s Martin Taylor. In a double hammer blow, Arsenal’s title challenge was in tatters and Eduardo was regrettably never able to rediscover the form he displayed over that period. It was a case of what might have been for both Arsenal’s title chances and Eduardo’s career. He was sold to Ukrainian giants Shakthar Donetsk in 2010.
In one of Wenger’s and the club’s most puzzling ever signings, AS Monaco striker Park Chu-young joined the club in 2011 when it was almost certain he would join French club Lille, as he was in the process of completing a medial with the Ligue 1 outfit. Deemed as a panic buy from Wenger, Park made one league appearance in three seasons, an eight-minute cameo as a substitute, and netted just once in a League Cup match against Bolton. It lead many to believe Park was signed for commercial purposes, as he was clearly not good enough to play for a club of Arsenal’s stature. He was eventually put out of his mersey in 2014 and released from the club. The 29-year-old then joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Shabab and now plies his trade for FC Seoul in his homeland of South Korea.
In 2012, highly rated German foward Lukas Podolski joined the club from his boyhood team Koln for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be around £10 million on a reported wage of £100,000 a week. One of Podolski’s strengths is his destructive left foot, scoring a 31 goals in 81 appearances over three inconsistant seasons. The 30-year-old never really found his niche under Wenger, neither suited to leading the line or having the pace or movement to play out wide, as he fell out of favour in the 2014-15 season. He was subsequently loaned out to Inter Milan in January where he did not fare much better, before signing for Turkish champions Galatasary this summer.
While some see it as just a number, the phycological demons of previous players to wear the number still heavily linger, and with the exit of Podolski, the number is back up for grabs for anyone who is daring enough to defy history and break this unshakeable curse.
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