The curse of the Arsenal No.9

The list of Arsenal No. 9 goes on and on. But none of them could escape the curse of the No.9.
Here’s a list of former Arsenal players who wore the No.9 shirt:
Paul Merson

Paul was Arsene’s first no.9 and he only lasted a season. He had a history of drinking, gambling and drug abuse. Middlesbrough offered a player a deal to double his money. The player had no troubles with the manager or with anyone at the club. He left a 3rd place Premier League Club for a FirstDivision Club happily as he really needed the money.
Nicolas Anelka

This is when the curse started properly. Arsenal had signed Anelka from PSG as a 17 year old for just £500,000. He was one of the finest Arsenal No. 9 in the history.He scored 17 goals in his first season winning the PFA Young Player of The Year. He started making noises about being unhappy in England. His brothers saw him as a cash cow and moved him to Real Madrid.
After one year he rejoined PSG. Later on, moves to Liverpool, Manchester City, Fenerbache, Bolton, Chelsea, Shanghai Shenhua, Juventus, WBA and Mumbai City followed. Anelka and his brothers made millions through signing on fees.
Davor Suker
Davor came to Arsenal as a part of the Anelka deal. He lasted a year and also missed a penalty in the UEFA Cup final.

Francis Jeffers

The Englishman was termed as the next big thing. He was an instant hit in the Premier League. He made his debut for Everton aged 16 and scored 20 goals in 60 games for them.
He was signed for £8million at just 20 years old. His career was short lived as injuries got the best of him and he was loaned back to Everton.
Jose Antonio Reyes

The Spaniard joined Arsenal in January 2004 for £10.5m. Big things were expected of him as he made his debut for Sevilla just aged 16. He had an amazing spell at Arsenal but rumors came out that he was homesick as he could barely read and write in Spanish and didn’t knew a single word of English.
Eventually, Reyes left in a loan swap to Madrid for Julio Baptista, but his career never really his the heights of 2004.
Julio Baptista

Julio Baptista was a big flop at Arsenal. He only scored 3 goals in 24 league appearances. He was overweight, slow and had an awful technique. He didn’t seem the same player who scored 47 goals in 79 league games. Thus, his loan move was never made permanent.
Eduardo

The Curse of the No.9 did the worst to Eduardo. It tried to rob the player of his career. Reading the story of this Arsenal No. 9 always makes me sad.
His career at Arsenal had taken a slow but a steady start. He was on fire in January 2008. In February, in a match against Birmingham, he met his horrible horrible fate. He was a victim of a despicable foul by Martin Taylor and was left on the ground with a broken leg and open dislocation of his ankle.
He returned a year later but he wasn’t half the player he used to be so he was sold to Shakhtar Donetsk.
Park Chu-Young

He was on the verge of joining Lille when he disappeared overnight and ended up in London and signing for Arsenal. He stayed at Arsenal for 3 seasons. He only made one League appearance that too as an substitute in the last 8 minutes against Manchester United.
Lukas Podolski

He joined Arsenal in 2012 following the relegation of his boyhood club Koln. He was a fan favorite. His left foot was quiet strong. He scored 31 goals in 81 appearances, averaging a goal every 145 minutes.
However, he could not break into the Arsenal starting 11. There were no problems things just didn’t seem to click for him.
Arsenal’s newest no.9 Alexandre Lacazette performed greatly at Lyon. Let’s hope the curse ends and doesn’t effect any more of Arsenal’s No.9s. ')}