Arsenal: Lucas Perez Undone By All Too Familiar Curse

Arsenal hasn’t had a good history with the No. 9 shirt and Lucas Perez may not have received the memo. He picked a fight with forces beyond his, and our, understanding.

Arsenal, under Arsene Wenger, has this long standing history with the No. 9 shirt. Usually a shirt reserved for prolific goal scorers and superstars, the No. 9 at Arsenal has long been a source of witchcraft, wizardry, and bad juju. Nothing good has come from those that wear it.

However, it is a combination of different kids of ‘nothing good.’s’ It hasn’t merely been worn by ineffective players. Some players have wore it to great success only to meet endings that were less than happy from a Gunners perspective. Injury, greed, you name it, the No. 9 shirt just has some sort of voodoo on it.

It all started in 1996. Wenger’s first year as coach. Paul Merson was the No. 9 and he made himself a strong 40 appearances. However, at the end of the season, Merson rejected a new offer from Wenger and doubled his money to move to Middlesbrough in the first division.

Quite the start.

It then fell to Nicholas Anelka! The French wonderkid who joined up at the age of 17 and could have written his name in the Arsenal history books. He scored 17 league goals in his second season with the Gunners and was named the PFA Young Player of the Year. The force was strong with this young No. 9.

Anelka took his promising self to Real Madrid for massive money, then slowly but surely faded into obscurity. From a teenage starlet destined for legendary status to a nobody in no time flat. The No. 9 strikes twice. But two times is merely a coincidence.

David Suker, part of the replacement deal for Anelka, came next. He lasted a year and amounted to nothing. Left the following summer.

Then cam Francis Jeffers. The fox in the box that was more like a fox in a shoe box, Jeffers couldn’t stay healthy and couldn’t find form when he was healthy. Two years later, he was gone.

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Jose Antonio Reyes was a great chance of breaking the evolving curse, but after a promising 2004 campaign, he too, like so many others, disappeared into obscurity. He passed the shirt off to Julio Bapista on his way out the door. The Brazilian was a long-time target, but lasted a year, didn’t do anything, and took off.

Then came Eduardo. By far the most heart-wrenching case of the curse, Eduardo had everything necessary to kick the curse in the arse. But unfortunately, a horrific leg break prematurely ended all hopes of stardom.

From here, it reached a new low. The 2010/11 season saw no one brave enough to wear the accursed shirt. Then it was taken by perhaps the most laughable signing in Arsene Wenger’s history – Park Chu-Young. In three years he played 8 minutes.

By this point, perhaps Wenger started to welcome the curse, because he used it himself to force an early end to the next No. 9, Lukas Podolski. The Gunners were begging for proper competition for Olivier Giroud and Poldi was a goal scorer through and through.

Yet for whatever reason, Wenger was not a fan and he froze him out.

And then came Lucas Perez. Another man capable of destroying the curse, it seems that the curse has again been kept alive by Wenger. The Spaniard has not been given his fair chance by Le Prof and now appears ticketed for an early exit this summer.

Next: Arsenal's 30 Greatest Players Ever

When Lucas first arrived, we here at Pain in the Arsenal pegged him as the guy to break the mysterious curse. But alas, Wenger has outdone our hopefulness. Perhaps, if Lucas sticks it out another year, there will be hope yet.

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