Kevin Campbell, Paul Merson, John Hartson, Nicolas Anelka, Davor Suker, Francis Jeffers, Jose Antonio Reyes, Julio Baptista, Eduardo, Park Chu-young, Lukas Podolski, Lucas Perez, Alexandre Lacazette and… Gabriel Jesus.
The former Manchester City striker Jesus has completed a £45million move to Arsenal on a five-year deal and took just 90 seconds to open his account on debut against Nurnberg.
The Brazilian star is wearing the No 9 shirt, joining a list of illustrious and not-so-illustrious players to wear the famous number in the Premier League era.
Some have said the shirt number is cursed after several high-profile flops, with ‘fox in the box’ Francis Jeffers, South Korean Park Chu-young and Lucas Perez among the big disappointments.
But Nicolas Anelka, Lukas Podolski and Eduardo proved fan favourites with the Gunners while wearing No 9.
So Sportsmail looks at every player to don the number as Jesus aims to be the first genuine unqualified success wearing that shirt.
Gabriel Jesus has completed a £45million move from Manchester City to Arsenal
He took just 90 seconds to score his first goal in an Arsenal shirt against Nuremberg on Friday
The Brazilian star has taken the No 9 shirt from the departing Alexandre Lacazette
But Arsenal’s number nine is said to be cursed after several high-profile flops in the shirt
Francis Jeffers did not work out at Arsenal
Francis Jeffers
Arsenal splashed £8m on a 20-year-old Jeffers after a promising start at Everton, but the Liverpudlian struggled with the pressure and several injuries.
Across three seasons with the Toffees, he scored 18 league goals.
By the end of his career, he would only equal that tally in English football across nine more full seasons ranging from the Premier League to League Two with Accrington Stanley.
There were further disappointing spells with Floriana in the Maltese Premier League, and scoring twice in 26 games for the Newcastle Jets in Australia.
He ended up scoring eight goals in all competitions for Arsenal – a quarter of those against Farnborough Town in an FA Cup tie.
Julio Baptista
The big Brazilian was the first player to wear the nine at the Emirates Stadium after their move from former stadium Highbury.
Baptista spent a season on loan from Real Madrid but only ended up scoring three goals in 24 Premier League appearances.
He did net four times at Anfield – before Andrey Arshavin did the same – in a madcap 6-3 League Cup win, even missing a penalty, but that one match provided almost half the goals he scored that entire season.
Baptista then missed another spot-kick on the last day of the campaign. Arsenal did not bring him back.
Brazilian loanee Julio Baptista scored four against Liverpool in a madcap 6-3 League Cup win but only ended up scoring three goals in 24 Premier League appearances and did not return
Park Chu-young
One of the most bizarre signings in Arsenal history, Park Chu-young was nabbed from relegated French side Monaco in summer 2011 – the same window they signed Gervinho and Andre Santos.
The Gunners gazumped Lille on transfer deadline day for the South Korean, who was having a medical with Lille but got a call in his hotel room and sacked them off for the Premier League side.
Wenger had a reputation for signing relatively unknown, young up-and-coming talents from across the world – but at 25, Park was not one fitting into that category.
He was given the No 9 shirt – seemingly indicating he would be a regular starter up front – but scored just one goal in two years, against Bolton in the League Cup, racking up just eight minutes of Premier League action.
South Korean Park Chu-young is one of the most bizarre signings in the club’s history
Lucas Perez
It was a bit of a surprise when Arsenal snapped up former Karpaty Lviv and PAOK striker Lucas Perez for a reported £17m in August 2016, even if he had just enjoyed a 17-goal season at LaLiga Deportivo.
The Spaniard scored a Champions League hat-trick against Basel but only managed four other goals in his solitary season in north London, scoring just one Premier League goal.
When his No 9 shirt was passed onto Lacazette, he was fuming, telling Spanish website La Voz de Galicia: ‘The thing of taking the shirt number without telling me to give it to a companion, it seems to me the last straw.
‘I can not continue this way. I have given everything, but that has not been reciprocated, so I can’t stand it any longer. I feel cheated.
‘In February I was not allowed to leave for China with the promise that I would play more and after that I had even fewer opportunities. The shirt number is an ugly gesture.’
Ouch.
Spaniard Lucas Perez was furious when the No 9 shirt was taken off him and given to Lacazette
Nicolas Anelka
Talented forward Anelka was just 17 and had 12 senior appearances to his name when Wenger bought him for £500,000 from Paris Saint-Germain.
The teenager was a bright spark at Highbury, scoring nine times in his first full season, including one in the FA Cup final as they won a domestic double, before nabbing 17 in 35 games the following year as he finished Golden Boot runner-up.
Real Madrid then signed him for £22.3million, giving Arsenal a sizeable profit and allowing them to build a world-class training ground and sign Thierry Henry, who did OK in red and white, if anyone remembers him.
Although he left under a bit of a cloud, his time at Arsenal was a success on the pitch.
Talented Frenchman Nicolas Anelka scored a lot of goals but left the Gunners under a cloud
Honourable mentions
Kevin Campbell was the first to wear No 9 at Arsenal in the Premier League, but only scored four goals before scoring 15 the next season when it moved to Paul Merson.
‘Merse’ was hugely popular among fans but only lasted a season under Arsene Wenger and was sold to relegated Middlesbrough.
Croatian Davor Suker had a strong goals record for his country and Real Madrid, but scored just seven times in his only season at Arsenal, missing a penalty in the UEFA Cup final defeat against Galatasaray.
German Lukas Podolski (above) was one No 9 star who was a cult favourite among supporters
Spaniard Jose Antonio Reyes, who once scored in the club’s first six league games in his first full season, had the talent to succeed but struggled to consistently deliver in the physically demanding world of English football.
He also controversially told a radio DJ posing as Real Madrid chief Emilio Butragueno in a prank phone call: ‘I wish I was playing for Real Madrid. If I’m not (playing for Real) I’m going to have to carry on playing with some bad people.’
Homesickness and a racism storm involving then-Spain boss Luis Aragones and Arsenal team-mate Thierry Henry saw him eventually return to Spain. He tragically died in a car crash in 2019 at the tender age of 35.
Lukas Podolski, Eduardo and… Gabriel Jesus?
But there were several stars who made a positive impression on fans in the No 9 shirt: Lukas Podolski, for example, didn’t quite live up to his outstanding international goals record for Germany, but was popular with supporters.
The German’s traction engine of a shot and respectable record of 19 goals in 60 league games marks him as one of the better signings on this list.
Jesus has the versatility and pedigree to be a success at Arsenal – and Gunners manager Mikel Arteta (above) will hope he can put all the previous failures of No 9s behind him at the Emirates
Similarly, gifted Brazilian-born forward Eduardo da Silva was a cult hero among Gunners fans.
The Croatian international had a magical left foot and was a classy playmaker and lethal striker all in one, best represented by his glorious improvised ‘beach goal’ against Burnley in 2009.
His career was never the same after a horrible leg-breaking tackle by Birmingham’s Martin Taylor, and he left with a record of 21 goals in 67 appearances – it could and should have been more.
Now it’s the turn of Jesus. He is perhaps not a natural out-and-out striker but should nonetheless prove an improvement on the previous holder of the shirt, Alexandre Lacazette, who has left this summer on a free transfer to join former club Lyon.
Jesus has the versatility and pedigree to be a success at Arsenal – and Mikel Arteta will hope he can put all the previous failures of No 9s behind him.
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