- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Romelu Lukaku has finally moved on from Chelsea after three years and 15 games.
As has been their way recently, Chelsea have again turned a profit on the player in selling him to Everton who have smashed their club record with their new 28 million-pound signing.
For Everton fans, it is a highly exciting capture. It is a large investment for the usually frugal blue half of Merseyside but it is also a sign of intent bringing in a young player who is already a proven Premiership goalscorer.
Chelsea on the other hand have invested around 25 million pounds in the talents of Diego Costa, a late bloomer with no Premiership experience and four years senior to Lukaku.
Why?
From the moment that Lukaku arrived at Chelsea in August 2011 when Andre Villas Boas was briefly in charge, there were whispers at the club that the raw signing wasn’t good enough.
For a player who had excelled at such a young age and had been thoroughly scouted, this did sound a little odd. However Chelsea played the teenager little in his first season much to Lukaku’s chagrin.
Lukaku spent the next two seasons on loan first at West Brom and then Everton, scoring 17 and 15 league goals respectively. Both were healthy totals at clubs not exactly renowned for ‘banging them in’.
While there was a level of inconsistency that you would naturally associate with a player of his age, his overall level of play was widely praised and he was much loved by both the Baggies and the Toffees fans.
All of this of course came at a time when Chelsea were struggling to cope with the departure of Didier Drogba. Fernando Torres was at best fitful, at worst anonymous.
Daniel Sturridge was offered opportunities particularly under AVB and by Di Matteo but was also deemed not good enough for Chelsea and was sold after the departure of Rafa Betinez. Demba Ba was also added to the mix.
Last season, rather than give an opportunity to Lukaku, Chelsea drafted in an ageing and unfit Samuel Eto’o as well as persevering with the underwhelming Demba Ba.
Much has been made of Mourinho’s difficult relationship with Lukaku but the reality is that each of the Chelsea managers – the Blues certainly offer variety in that respect – that had Lukaku as an option did not see him as a viable one.
Chelsea persevered with Lukaku through the loan system, but the writing appeared to be on the wall after the European Super Cup last season.
It is not entirely clear what transpired between the Portuguezer and Lukaku after the young Belgian had missed his penalty kick, but there are varied reports that Lukaku demanded a transfer just hours after the match finished.
Mourinho made further less than cryptic references as to why Lukaku had gone on loan to Everton, but would not elaborate directly.
What was becoming more and more clear was that the Chelsea management believed – rightly or wrongly – that Lukaku’s mentality and attitude was not correct.
Mourinho, for all his idiosyncrasies, has always been a huge believer in the group collective – with little pandering to superstar egos or problematic players. He typically fosters a strong siege mentality – us against the world – and will not tolerate a bad apple among the group.
Stories continued to emerge from Stamford Bridge prior to the summer and the World Cup that Lukaku was going to be moved on, despite Chelsea certainly going to lose Eto’o, Ba and possibly Torres, the last of which now looks unlikely to happen.
Mourinho and Chelsea will point to the World Cup as further proof that Lukaku is not cut out for the very top level.
He was hugely disappointing before losing his place in the team to Liverpool’s new teenage signing Divock Origi. Everton, one presumes, would duly point to Eden Hazard’s World Cup performances for Belgium also.
28M does look good business again for Chelsea especially when one considers that none of the very best teams were looking to pick the player up.
Everton will feel they have signed a proven Premiership goal scorer whose best days are most surely ahead of him.
Lukaku will clearly have something to prove when he lines up against Chelsea this season and the London club must hope that they have not made a bad judgement call in moving on the raw Belgian.
Chelsea fans love to say ‘in Jose we trust’ and for the time being will take solace in that judgement call and another large transfer fee.
Diego Costa outscoring Lukaku this season would go a long way to backing up that statement. Let battle between the two commence.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.