It was confirmed earlier today that Alvaro Morata would take Yacine Adli’s number seven shirt at AC Milan, and a report has taken a look back at those who have donned the number in recent years.
Questions surround Morata’s move to Milan, on several levels. From queries about the differences between himself and Joshua Zirkzee to questions about the past, there are several things which are being pre-determined about the Spaniard’s Rossoneri time before he has even debuted.
Olivier Giroud, hopefully, ended the number nine curse, but questions are in place about whether that will be the case when Morata joins, and there is a distant question about the former Atletico Madrid striker’s ability to end a spell of underwhelming No. 7’s.
As Radio Rossonera recalls, there have been 10 players to don the number since the 1999-2000 season, starting with the legend, Andriy Shevchenko. Since then, no one has matched his legacy, or come anywhere close.
Ricardo Oliveira took the shirt after the striker departed in 2006 and scored three Serie A goals with the number on his back, and then Alexandre Pato took the number, but he never reached the levels that his first few seasons suggested he could.
Following Pato, Robinho took the reigns, but his previous goalscoring form could not be replicated with his new number. Jeremy Menez fell victim to the same curse after a fantastic opening season, and then Luiz Adriano, Gerard Deulofeu and Nikola Kalinic followed suit.
Samu Castillejo once again did not set the stage alight, and neither did Yacine Adli, so the shirt has another new recipient.
An underwhelming past, but one with a new heir. A potential to settle two historical questions, it is there for Morata to change, and he will aim to do that. He enters the Rossoneri picture when change is in full swing, and new heroes can emerge.