Morata found a permanent solution to his temporary goal drought problem

By the close of Boxing Day 2017, Alvaro Morata had twelve goals to his name and was feeling pretty good about his transition from part-time player on the Continent to a full-time starter in the Premier League.

But then, as if someone got a Morata voodoo doll for Christmas — such a prankster, that Diego Costa — and started sticking pins in it, things took a turn for the unfortunate. His back went bad, his form went worse and the media heat eventually turned full blast on an introspective man who lives for goals but couldn’t even buy one. He missed time with the injury and when he did play, he went thirteen straight matches without the one statistic his career is based on — goals.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, as they say. But instead of sticking pins in dolls, Morata decided to have the pins stuck in himself. Like several of his Chelsea teammates, including most famously Eden Hazard, Morata went down to the local tattoo parlor and got himself inked. This wasn’t a brand new experience for Chelsea’s no.9. He had at least two tattoos already, a small one on the inside of his left wrist and a longer one on the inside of his right forearm, but like the undershirts with messages on them that players sometimes reveal after scoring, this one was kept a secret until Morata did actually break his drought, against Leicester City in the FA Cup.

There’s no explaining luck or superstition, but the new ink seems to be working so far. Whatever it takes! And if he needs a new one for each goal ... well, at least Fulham Tattoo will be kept busy!