Juan Cuadrado will wear #23, shirt numbering sanity prevails

For a minute there we were all convinced that Juan Cuadrado would get all outlandish and weird on us and insist on wearing #74 on the back of shirt.  His favorite number is 11, and 7+4 add up to 11, so the story went.

But, unlike the rumors surrounding his eventual capture by the Blues, the rumors about his shirt number have proven to be untrue.  Even if he did change his Twitter handle to include 74 at one point earlier today.

The 26-year-old [...] will wear the number 23 shirt.

-source: Chelsea FC

I could've sworn that was not in the official announcement at first.  Or perhaps we just overlooked it.  Either way, Cuadrado takes over the number we've traditionally given to backup goalkeepers (Carlo Cudicini and Mark Schwarzer), though Daniel Sturridge wore it as well for the couple seasons he was part of the first-team squad.  If Cuadrado matches Sturridge's scoring output (directly or indirectly), I think we'll be more than happy with Chelsea's newest signing.

Blue on my boots, blue on my shirt. So happy to be @ChelseaFC #therewillbehaters @adidasfootball pic.twitter.com/jyjE8Zq8zm

— Juan Cuadrado (@Cuadrado) February 2, 2015