Gianfranco Zola gives his blessing as Moisés Caicedo unretires the No.25 shirt at Chelsea

For the first time in 20 years, the No.25 shirt will be worn in a competitive Chelsea match, with new signing Moisés Caicedo taking up the legendary number last worn by the one and only Gianfranco Zola.

(Incidentally, Zola’s last match, our famous 2-1 win that assured Champions League qualification and Roman Abramovich’s millions, was against Liverpool, who were amusingly told to talk to the hand by Caicedo last week.)

The move was hinted at by Caicedo’s agent earlier this week, but now confirmed by all official channels. Zola himself has given it his blessing, which is to be expected, but is a formality that warms that heart nonetheless.

The announcement video is pretty cool, even if comparing Zola’s game to Caicedo’s is a bit of a non-starter, to say the least. Caicedo may be tremendous at what he does (in his own words, “tackling”), but Zola’s Zola and no one will ever be like Zola.

That said, the 21-year-old defensive midfielder has made it pretty clear that he wants to be legendary at Chelsea, and in that case, the No.25 will fit him perfectly!

“I’m here to be a great player, to help the team, to become a legend at this amazing club.”

-Moisés Caicedo; source: Chelsea TV

LFG!