Romelu Lukaku

[TheChelseaBlues]

1 hour ago, Barrettinator said:

 

How do you lot not realize that Griezmann is a SS, not an out an out CF? That's like asking the club to sign Muller and sticking him up front for a whole season. Come on now. Even Bayern have never done that apart from the occasional tactical switch mid match. Griezmann shouldn't be anywhere near this discussion. We need a pure CF.

 

2 hours ago, Argo said:

That is an argument I hate, it was the same reason a lot of people wanted to keep Mourinho because well "who could we get better"? There was a lot of options that would have done good with the squad of players we have and the board found one of them. 

We as fans didn't have Conte's name on our radar and there must be some very good potentially top strikers (which is the level Lukaku is at himself) that we aren't obviously aware off for a fraction of the price Romelu would cost, that's were Conte and his staff earn there money. 

I was including Griezmann for posterity's sake. If I left him out someone would have brought him up. 

I don't think he's a 9 either but him plus a pure 9 would be a good choice. I see us buying two forwards anyway if Costa is sold. 

I don't agree that there are some we don't know about. If they're that good we'd know about them already. Gone are the days where diamonds go under the radar to top clubs. It's apples to oranges since a forward's contribution is easier to quantify but nobody knew Kante was so good, I'm sure Leicester didn't even know how great a player they had at first, until he proved it at a high level. We aren't going to pluck a striker out of the Swiss league for cheap and see him bag 20 goals next season. That doesn't mean we should pay 100m for Lukaku or Morata but realistically we're going to have to plunk down a good bit of cash to bring in any great player. Gone are the days when you can buy Cantona for a million pounds and get a steal because EVERYONE is so much more aware now. 

[Barrettinator]

11 minutes ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

 

I was including Griezmann for posterity's sake. If I left him out someone would have brought him up. 

I don't think he's a 9 either but him plus a pure 9 would be a good choice. I see us buying two forwards anyway if Costa is sold. 

I don't agree that there are some we don't know about. If they're that good we'd know about them already. Gone are the days where diamonds go under the radar to top clubs. It's apples to oranges since a forward's contribution is easier to quantify but nobody knew Kante was so good, I'm sure Leicester didn't even know how great a player they had at first, until he proved it at a high level. We aren't going to pluck a striker out of the Swiss league for cheap and see him bag 20 goals next season. That doesn't mean we should pay 100m for Lukaku or Morata but realistically we're going to have to plunk down a good bit of cash to bring in any great player. Gone are the days when you can buy Cantona for a million pounds and get a steal because EVERYONE is so much more aware now. 

All reports have indicated that Madrid are asking for 50m for Morata. Nowhere near as expensive as Lukaku and an even better player imo. It's a no brainer. Conte probably prefers Morata as well.

[Argo]

18 minutes ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

 

I was including Griezmann for posterity's sake. If I left him out someone would have brought him up. 

I don't think he's a 9 either but him plus a pure 9 would be a good choice. I see us buying two forwards anyway if Costa is sold. 

I don't agree that there are some we don't know about. If they're that good we'd know about them already. Gone are the days where diamonds go under the radar to top clubs. It's apples to oranges since a forward's contribution is easier to quantify but nobody knew Kante was so good, I'm sure Leicester didn't even know how great a player they had at first, until he proved it at a high level. We aren't going to pluck a striker out of the Swiss league for cheap and see him bag 20 goals next season. That doesn't mean we should pay 100m for Lukaku or Morata but realistically we're going to have to plunk down a good bit of cash to bring in any great player. Gone are the days when you can buy Cantona for a million pounds and get a steal because EVERYONE is so much more aware now. 

No one is saying we will get a cheap and cheerful striker from the Swiss league, but I remember when Dybala was linked with us from Palmero and a lot of people wanted us to go for someone more "proven" then, back in 2014 who would have had Greizmann on there shopping list? Or Azpi in 2012 for that matter. 

[Stim]

The obvious solution is to find out who atletico would sign to replace griezmann and buy him. Cut out the middle man.

[Xfaxtor]

1 hour ago, Stim said:

The obvious solution is to find out who atletico would sign to replace griezmann and buy him. Cut out the middle man.

I know you are joking, but their last three strikers they signed were Mandzukic, Torres and Jackson Martinez. Du they are batting sub .500 themselves.

[Xfaxtor]

3 hours ago, Argo said:

No one is saying we will get a cheap and cheerful striker from the Swiss league, but I remember when Dybala was linked with us from Palmero and a lot of people wanted us to go for someone more "proven" then, back in 2014 who would have had Greizmann on there shopping list? Or Azpi in 2012 for that matter. 

Dont whatch the Italian league so cant to say about Dybala, but many of us wanted Griezmann. He was one of the biggest talents in Europe, same with Mbappe now, but I cant see us shelling out the price needed for an 18 to lead our line.

[Blue_Boy]

It all depends of the direction we want to go... If we sell Diego in the summer I would rather buy someone like Dzeko for 30 odd milion, who is a proven goalscorer and try to blood Abraham, bats, traore than shell out 100m for Lukaku/Icardi/griezman... Call me crazy but I would be happy with Dzeko/Tammy/Bats/Traore if Antonio would be willing to rotate a little bit more than this season...  That would let us spend on Sanchez (for the pedro role) and a quality midfielder to partner Kante.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Blue_Boy

[Nibs]

Still have reservations about Lukaku but wouldn't hesitate to get him in to replace Costa. Would feel a lot more confident about the Spurs game this weekend AND going on to win the PL if we had Lukaku right now instead of our woefully out of form striker.

Then again if talks of £100m + are accurate then I would tell Everton to f**k right off.

 

[Delnino]

Lukaku wont cost anywhere near 100m, the player and his agent have already said he wont sign a new deal, his current deal runs out in 2019, Everton wont leave him run down his deal and sell him next year at an even cheaper price. I asume Everton wanted him to sign an extension and ensure they got a serious price for him but Lukaku will know how stubborn Everton are, they usually pull they big club card and refuse to sell players and Lukaku is wasting his career staying any longer at tinpot Everton.

He'll be gone in the summer and I reckon it will be for 60/65m, Everton hold no advanatge in these talks, player wants out, 2 years left on his deal, the ball is in Lukakus court and I'd love him back, hes got unfinished business at Chelsea, whether or not Conte will go for him or Morata or ideally BOTH, remains to be seen.

[RMCM]

9 hours ago, Barrettinator said:

With 2 years on his contract and for that price, if they aren't willing to part with him for 60m, they can shove him up their arses.

He's a big lad, i'd say that would hurt

[didierforever]

11 hours ago, Argo said:

Like I said previous I misread and thought you just said Lukaku. 

Torres was a PL proven striker and we know what happened there. Not saying Lukaku is about to suffer the same fall from grace but signing from the prem is no less risky than signing abroad. 

Yes as it stands Bellotti has only one year of top level but that was also true with Drogba and Costa (Kante too). Also at the point we signed Torres,  Falcao only had half a good year in the Portuguese league. 

Thats a very myopic view. For every torres (PL proven) to DD (not-proven) there are 10 examples of the opposite. 

Costa was a CL finalist, bellotti (with all due respect) is still a nobody on the big scene. 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2696337-chelsea-transfer-news-andrea-belotti-price-discussed-amid-fresh-arsenal-rumours

Dont think Torino would sell him for less than 40mil/50mil when there starting price (and his buy out is an insane sum or 100mil). i would rather add 20mil to that sum an buy Lukaku.

[dkw]

2 hours ago, Nibs said:

Still have reservations about Lukaku but wouldn't hesitate to get him in to replace Costa. Would feel a lot more confident about the Spurs game this weekend AND going on to win the PL if we had Lukaku right now instead of our woefully out of form striker.

Then again if talks of £100m + are accurate then I would tell Everton to f**k right off.

 

Its hard to disagree with that, but if both were on form which would you prefer? I would still have more faith in costa to produce the goods, especially in the bigger games.

[Xfaxtor]

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Its hard to disagree with that, but if both were on form which would you prefer? I would still have more faith in costa to produce the goods, especially in the bigger games.

If you asked me before Christmas I would ha e said Costa. Atm its a tossup for me, maybe an edge given to Lukaku based on age and the fact that he is still improving every year. We havent seen the best lf him yet, while Costas wheels usually falls off halfway through the season when the stakes are upped

[TheChelseaBlues]

11 hours ago, Argo said:

No one is saying we will get a cheap and cheerful striker from the Swiss league, but I remember when Dybala was linked with us from Palmero and a lot of people wanted us to go for someone more "proven" then, back in 2014 who would have had Greizmann on there shopping list? Or Azpi in 2012 for that matter. 

Well you can't have it both ways tho. Do we want a 20 year old Dybala who's had 1 decent season starting every match? I see Juve paid 40m for him btw and while thats not on the Lukaku level he was hardly an unknown player. 

Seems like you'd be happy to replace Costa with Mbappe or someone like that. He also wouldn't come cheaply and I personally am not convinced he's good enough yet. 

The case for Lukaku is we know exactly what we're getting. Someone who bullies the bottom 15 clubs in the league and lesser sides in Europe at the least. We can all argue whether or not he can do it against bigger clubs if he were here. I think he could because talent and expectations around him will be raised. I wouldn't be surprised to see him at United tho because Conte seems to fancy Morata 

[Xfaxtor]

The chance of Mou "admitting a mistake" and buying Lukaku are about the same as me winning the lotto tomorrow

[Barrettinator]

7 hours ago, Blue_Boy said:

It all depends of the direction we want to go... If we sell Diego in the summer I would rather buy someone like Dzeko for 30 odd milion, who is a proven goalscorer and try to blood Abraham, bats, traore than shell out 100m for Lukaku/Icardi/griezman... Call me crazy but I would be happy with Dzeko/Tammy/Bats/Traore if Antonio would be willing to rotate a little bit more than this season...  That would let us spend on Sanchez (for the pedro role) and a quality midfielder to partner Kante.

Yeah you definitely are crazy mate.

[Barrettinator]

5 hours ago, Delnino said:

Lukaku wont cost anywhere near 100m, the player and his agent have already said he wont sign a new deal, his current deal runs out in 2019, Everton wont leave him run down his deal and sell him next year at an even cheaper price. I asume Everton wanted him to sign an extension and ensure they got a serious price for him but Lukaku will know how stubborn Everton are, they usually pull they big club card and refuse to sell players and Lukaku is wasting his career staying any longer at tinpot Everton.

He'll be gone in the summer and I reckon it will be for 60/65m, Everton hold no advanatge in these talks, player wants out, 2 years left on his deal, the ball is in Lukakus court and I'd love him back, hes got unfinished business at Chelsea, whether or not Conte will go for him or Morata or ideally BOTH, remains to be seen.

Everton may play that hard game though. Wasn't that long ago they repeatedly gave us the middle finger over Stones and we wasted a whole summer trying to get him. I'd certainly hope Conte would go after Morata instead of wasting the whole summer playing with Everton's tease. Ideally, I'd love both of them as well but I doubt that's going to happen.

 

1 hour ago, Xfaxtor said:

The chance of Mou "admitting a mistake" and buying Lukaku are about the same as me winning the lotto tomorrow

Hasn't sold Mata the 2nd time though, so you may be wrong about that.

[Stim]

9 hours ago, Xfaxtor said:

I know you are joking, but their last three strikers they signed were Mandzukic, Torres and Jackson Martinez. Du they are batting sub .500 themselves.

Well I'm more referring to main strikers. I don't follow atletico that closely but if one of those fills that criteria then I was 100% joking, if not then I'm 100% serious. All I know is Torres > Aguero > Falcao > Costa > Griezmann is a pretty good record but I have probably missed out a link there?

Edited April 19, 2017 by Stim

[Delnino]

1 hour ago, Barrettinator said:

Everton may play that hard game though. Wasn't that long ago they repeatedly gave us the middle finger over Stones and we wasted a whole summer trying to get him. I'd certainly hope Conte would go after Morata instead of wasting the whole summer playing with Everton's tease. Ideally, I'd love both of them as well but I doubt that's going to happen.

Stones had longer left on his contract though than Lukaku, I think with the news coming out that hes not signing an extension, hes already picked his next club and doesnt want to have a summer long saga boiling donw to the last few hours and having him stay at Everton.

He clearly sees Everton as a spring board club to the biggest in Europe and Everton arent getting anywhere near that level in the next decade so theres no point wasting your career. If he pushes for a move Everton will sell him this summer rather than wait until next summer when his value will be even less, especailly if he publicly wants out.

Stones issue was he never really pushed for the move until it was too late in the window, with Lukakus people coming out a few weeks back saying he wasnt signing an extension, the ball is rolling, Drogbas words too the other week on how he knows where Lukaku is going to end up and suggests that its a done deal too. I'm hoping its back to us anyway.

[Xfaxtor]

1 hour ago, Barrettinator said:

 

Hasn't sold Mata the 2nd time though, so you may be wrong about that.

Theres a pretty big difference between buying someone that he openly critized and not selling someone already in the team. Theres no way Lukaku and Mou paires up.

[Xfaxtor]

31 minutes ago, Stim said:

Well I'm more referring to main strikers. I don't follow atletico that closely but if one of those fills that criteria then I was 100% joking, if not then I'm 100% serious. All I know is Torres > Aguero > Falcao > Costa > Griezmann is a pretty good record but I have probably missed out a link there?

Mandzukic and Martinez were bought for 25 and 35 million €, which is a pretty hefty investment for Atletico, they were definitely there to be the main guys. Torres mark 2 was I admit, a slightly different scenario 

Edited April 19, 2017 by Xfaxtor

[didierforever]

On 4/18/2017 at 13:05, yorkleyblue said:

If you want to settle for the top 10-15 in the world, then go ahead, and you'll be happy with Lukaku.  Me, I prefer to aim higher than that.

Still waiting for realistic targets.

[didierforever]

1 hour ago, Xfaxtor said:

Mandzukic and Martinez were bought for 25 and 35 million €, which is a pretty hefty investment for Atletico, they were definitely there to be the main guys. Torres mark 2 was I admit, a slightly different scenario 

Yup. there striker scouts seem to be slagging. Gameiro does not look that good too. 

[JMaher94]

Romelu Lukaku wants to rejoin Chelsea in move that will infuriate Everton | @Matt_Law_DT http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/04/19/romelu-lukaku-wants-rejoin-chelsea-move-will-infuriate-everton/ …

Lukaku and Sanchez it is according to Matt Law.

Edited April 19, 2017 by JMaher94

[Barrettinator]

I'd prefer Morata as I've said several times but we'll see. Certainly don't want us to depend on just one striker again. We need 2 capable strikers. Not sure if we can get both Lukaku and Morata but we'll need one more striker since it's obviously not Batshuayi. I do like the sound of a Lukaku & Morata partnership in a 3-5-2 (although I wonder where that would put Hazard and Sanchez, so perhaps a 4-2-4?). They're both different types of strikers and offer something totally different.