The history of Moises Caicedo’s new Chelsea shirt number

As the most expensive transfer in the long history of British football, Moises Caicedo has plenty to live up to.

Yet, arguably the number on his back will weigh heavier than the price tag hanging around his neck. After spurning Liverpool's advances to force a £115m move to Chelsea this summer, Caicedo was handed the club's iconic number 25 shirt.

Caicedo felt compelled to ask permission from Gianfranco Zola - the last player to wear those digits for Chelsea two decades ago - before his new jersey was revealed.

Here's everything you need to know about Caicedo's seismic squad number selection.

Moises Caicedo shirt number history

At his Chelsea unveiling, Caicedo revealed: "I spoke with Gianfranco Zola and he gave me his blessing. I know how much this number means. I chose this number because it means a lot for me and my family. I want to create a lot of memories with this number on my back."

Any meaning that these digits hold have been fostered over the last two years. It wasn't until Caicedo moved to Brighton in February 2021 that he first wore the number 25.

Coming through as a prodigious teenager for Independiente del Valle in northern Ecuador - where his first bus fares were funded by a generous youth-team coach - Caicedo made his top-flight debut in 2019 wearing 55.

Caicedo stuck with the bulky figure throughout his brief time in Ecuador's league system but was treated to the number 6 and 5 when Independiente competed in the Copa Libertadores (the South American equivalent of the Champions League).

With Brighton reluctant to throw Caicedo straight into the Premier League, he spent four months on loan with struggling Belgian side Beerschot, wearing the number 6 as he lost eight of his 12 appearances.

Every player to wear number 25 for Chelsea in the Premier League

Caicedo will be just the fifth player to wear the number 25 for Chelsea in the Premier League era. Before Zola's mythic spell in the slip of blue, it was a set of digits reserved for individuals on the fringes of the squad.

Ian Pearce only made one Premier League appearance for Chelsea before joining Blackburn Rovers while David Lee and Terry Phelan briefly flirted with the shirt before Zola made it iconic.

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What did Gianfranco Zola do with Chelsea?

When Zola arrived at Stamford Bridge in 1996, the club were so poorly equipped that he had to buy his own wall of dummies to practice free kicks. By the time he left almost seven years (and 12 Premier League free-kick goals) later, the Blues were a Champions League team attractive enough for Roman Abramovich to buy.

In the six seasons leading up to Zola's arrival, Chelsea had not finished higher than 11th. With the diminutive forward in the side, the Blues would never drop out of the top six.

But to reduce Zola's influence on Chelsea to cold hard results - he also won three domestic cups and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup - would be to miss the point entirely.

Diego Maradona's protege at Napoli was the same bundle of silk and skill as his idol, leaving defenders with twisted blood as wriggled around the mud-soaked pitches of English football in the 1990s. Often it looked as though Zola had more difficulty coping with his billowing jersey rather than the defenders that flailed at thin air.

Zola's impact was immediate and ever-lasting. The Italian became the first player to ever win the FWA Player of the Year award after joining a club midway through the season. By the time he wrapped up his Chelsea career in 2003, coming off the bench against Liverpool to see out a 2-1 win that confirmed Champions League qualification while turning Jamie Carragher inside out, Zola was voted as the club's greatest ever player.

After turning 37 that summer, Zola agreed to leave Chelsea for his hometown team Cagliari. Abramovich bought the Premier League side that same summer and implored Zola to stay, even offering to buy Cagliari for the sole purpose of loaning the number 25 back to Stamford Bridge.

Much like Abramovich's extravagant offer, not everything Zola attempted for Chelsea came off. Yet, he always had the confidence of his coach and the crowd, as Claudio Ranieri explained: "Gianfranco tries everything because he is a wizard and the wizard must try."

Now Caicedo must try the toughest trick of all - following in Zola's footsteps.

On this edition of Son of Chelsea, part of the 90min podcast network, Daniel Childs
reacts to the latest Chelsea news, including Moises Caicedo's record
transfer and Romeo Lavia's decision to pick the Blues over Liverpool!

If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!