6 minutes ago, DidierDrogbalala said:

Did you forget that Lukaku was made in the PL? He did get 20 goals for sides like Everton and West Brom and now you guys are flipping your own arguments about Havertz and Werner scoring a lot of goals from a weaker league but lets not mention that since its not Lukaku....

If he's so great in the PL why did United sell him to Inter?

This is a picture of Kai scoring against Crystal Palace. That is 1(2) against 6 defenders. This is a normal situation we are against sides like Palace. Havertz did a brilliant move and scored that which is not very normal for us under Tuchel. 

I just watched Lukaku highlight reel from 2021. Most of his goals are scored against more even situations. 1 against 2 or 1 against 1. Now I'll be the first to admit I watched 0 minutes of Serie A last term so I am not an expert of that league. However I can say without a doubt in the Prem has much more quality and strength in players, teams and managers than Serie A.

If you look at City's goals and games they score many tap ins and crosses very close to the goal. City's style of play is probably the closest we can compare Tuchel's football. There are differences but the way we try to score is for me similar. They have no apparent striker. For me Jesus is not their level player. He sort of fills a slot in their side. Sterling, Gundogan, Mahrez, DeBruyne are the ones providing goals.

For me Lukaku doesn't bring that much to these matches. I'll admit games against big 6 it changes as we have space in opponent area where he has shined in Italy. We don't have that player as Werner can't hit the goal or beat the offside. He could well score in those but the tedious matches against your palaces where for example Diego scored many times we lack the talent. 

Now you might say Haaland wants space, who doesn't but he is 21 and has time to learn. Lukaku is the Lukaku he will be for the rest of his career and at 100m he doesn't sound like the solution we need. Just my humble opinion. 

1 minute ago, Argo said:

We signed "PL proven" Torres and it backfired and we nearly made the same mistake again with Rooney.

That said I don't think Lukaku will anywhere near as bad as Torres but no previous record makes you immune to flopping.

Cmon Argo man, you better then this. We all knew Torres was a huge risk with his injury, Lukaku is in good shape.

13 minutes ago, abramovich said:

If he's so great in the PL why did United sell him to Inter?

Lukaku wasnt great when he was at United, he was a good Striker who was a goal scorer proven in the PL. Maybe United felt that with Rashford on the come up and Martial and Ibra they could be OK with selling Lukaku and invest the money elsewhere, you gonna have to ask an United fan to know the real reason. Was Lukaku Great at United? No but i dont think he was that bad, 16 goals and 7 assists in the league in his first season is not bad the second season is a bit underwhelming ill give you that with only 12 goals in 32 games.

Edited August 3, 20214 yr by DidierDrogbalala

21 minutes ago, Argo said:

How do we know Lukaku will guarantee the goals? We of all fans should know there's no guarantee with a striker. He scored less last season than Werner did the year before he joined us and less than Havertz the year before he joined us in his most recent season in the prem.

We don't know Lukaku will guarantee the goals but we also don't know for certain that he will fail.

I'm confident he would beat last seasons top scorers tally of 7 goals.

We have a serious problem at this club with professional footballers who can't even shoot straight, adding one that can has got be worth the risk.

Trying to solve the problem and possibly not getting the result we hoped for has surely got be better than not even trying to solve it...

3 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

2 things I just want to clear up first there is a difference between £100m and €100m these two keep getting thrown around interchangeable as news reporters and fans report different things. We have bid €100m + Alonso. If we value Alonso at say €30m that's our bid as it stands ~€130m.

Reports have stated that Lukaku has not in fact been turning us down as we were previously led to believe. His agent is pushing him to take it and it appears that he is willing to move if certain conditions (doubling of his annual salary) are met.

Secondly, when we ask why are we paying this much for Lukaku why not just pay for Haaland. Ask yourself don't you think the board has already thought this? Again the asking price for Haaland is still relatively uncertain with different sources quoting different prices. It lies somewhere between £130m-£175/80.

This could be around €200m including agent fees, plus the money the player and the father want under the table.

Let's not forget how the Neymar deal that took him to Barcelona went down, parents are often paid off.

With Lukaku if we meet the €120m valuation said to be around £102m it's up to Lukaku whether he wants to move. As things stand that is a much better deal for the club. £102m vs whatever the end deal for Haaland could end up being anything £175m+ is just ridiculous.

https://www.chelsea-news.co/2021/08/romelu-lukaku-to-chelsea-what-the-top-sources-are-saying/

 

considering the numbers you put in there..

is halland worth 75m more than kaku? my answerbis YES..

15 minutes ago, abramovich said:

If he's so great in the PL why did United sell him to Inter?

If De Bruyne is so great, why did we sell him to Wolfsburg?

Different managers, different formations, different circumstances 

It's never a binary "great or not"

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Personally think this is all a bunch of face saving news churned out by those who have contacts at Inter.

They lost their title winning manager and fan favorite Hakimi so they need something to beat their chests over. Withstanding a none existant barrage from "Romans tanks firing 50 quid notes at them" (trademark David Dein) and keeping their main man will help with that.

Just have to look at the report. We offer 100mill euros and Alonso but are happy to go back in with 130mill plus no Alonso? Sure and am sure we will be reported to do so, so Inter can reject again and beat their chests some more.

It was €100m including alonso. All seems pretty legit. I think it is likely to happen. 

Everyone would prefer Haaland, and if it was fifa, and it was as easy as just throwing an extra £50m at Dortmund, do fans not think we wouldve just done that? In all likelihood we have tried to get Haaland, but either Dortmund or Haaland, have not negotiated to the point the club feel comfortable spending that money. 

Now the season is fast approaching and we are moving for plan B in Lukaku, and from all accounts Tuchel is a big admirer. Stylistically similar to Haaland aswell. The club are backing a winning manager for once. We wont always agree with the clubs targets, but I think there is definitely some logic to how have things have developed. Proven goalscorer in his prime, who the manager wants. Last time we gave a manager those conditions we won 2 titles in 3 years.

4 minutes ago, 2211 said:

We don't know Lukaku will guarantee the goals but we also don't know for certain that he will fail.

I'm confident he would beat last seasons top scorers tally of 7 goals.

We have a serious problem at this club with professional footballers who can't even shoot straight, adding one that can has got be worth the risk.

Trying to solve the problem and possibly not getting the result we hoped for has surely got be better than not even trying to solve it...

Players like Sterling and Rashford naturally evolved from 10 goal a season forwards to 20 plus goal a season forwards, I really can't understand the notion that a similar type of evolution is beyond Havertz who is more talented than both of them.

Edited August 3, 20214 yr by Argo

Feel like this one is going to happen y'know 

2 minutes ago, Argo said:

Players like Sterling and Rashford naturally evolved from 10 goal a season forwards to 20 plus goal a season forwards, I really can't understand the notion that a similar type of evolution is beyond Havertz who is much more talented than both of them.

I never said that Havertz wouldn't improve, I'm actually a big fan of his and think he is getting better game by game.

My point was adding another footballer who can score 10+ goals a season can only benefit us while Havertz can play off a main striker and still chip in with a fair amount of goals.

19 minutes ago, TomCFC85 said:

If De Bruyne is so great, why did we sell him to Wolfsburg?

Different managers, different formations, different circumstances 

It's never a binary "great or not"

That's a silly comparison. KDB was nowhere near the player he became at City years later when we sold him and at the time at Chelsea he had more experienced players with much bigger names ahead of him and that's why he wanted out. Lukaku was an established player when he joined United and unlike De Bruyne at CFC, he was a regular starter for MU those two seasons.

Edited August 3, 20214 yr by abramovich

6 minutes ago, 2211 said:

I never said that Havertz wouldn't improve, I'm actually a big fan of his and think he is getting better game by game.

My point was adding another footballer who can score 10+ goals a season can only benefit us while Havertz can play off a main striker and still chip in with a fair amount of goals.

Personally I think signing players because we think they guarantee goals is a dangerous game, for context last year we thought Werner would solve those issues, 2019 many Chelsea fans wanted Luka Jovic for that very reason.

I actually really like the momentum building with Kai as a false 9, yes we need to improve finishing but we've already done the hard part in building a system that creates so many clear chances in the first place. Lukaku or a fox in the box coming in to finish those chances sounds perfect in theory but in reality it never works out like that.

If we really have to go down the route of signing a player we think is a near safe bet on goals I'd rather we tried and source a wide forward as that will mean we won't have to break apart a hugely promising system.

3 minutes ago, abramovich said:

That's a silly comparison. KDB was nowhere near the player he's become at City years later when we sold him and at the time at Chelsea he had more experienced players with much bigger names ahead of him so he wanted out. Lukaku was an established player when he joined United and unlike De Bruyne at CFC, he was a regular starter for MU those two seasons.

Seems like a perfectly reasonable comparison. People can be sold for multiple reasons, including their own lack of comfort in their situations due to the manager, playing style, country, weather, etc.

We have plenty of examples of players who peak in their late 20s. To think that a player cannot improve in their mid 20s doesn't make sense.

Lukaku was never a player I liked during his time in England but he has matured into a truly fantastic striker. His passing, vision, strength, awareness and eye for goal all have improved. You can be sure that Lukaku will be there to finish off a number of the many crosses that we spray low across the box. 

Lukaku + Havertz is quite exciting.

Overall, Haaland is much more attractive but Lukaku is far less of a risk in so many ways.

17 minutes ago, TomCFC85 said:

Feel like this one is going to happen y'know 

I personally wound't want a player that has mixed feelings about our club, specially not if 3 or more bids are needed. There are other options.

16 minutes ago, TomCFC85 said:

Feel like this one is going to happen y'know 

For those who are worried about him at Chelsea. 😄

For those who wanted him. 😢

Tom has spoken, so it’s not happening, well at least not for another 48hrs.

 

For me the best center forwards in European football are Lewandowski, Haaland, Benzema, Aguero, Kane, Suarez, Lukaku and maybe, just maybe, Immobile. Others like Mbappe, Ronaldo, Griezmann, Messi, Lautaro Martinez etc. have different roles and are not pure center forwards that primary lead the line.

Out of that center forward list, IMHO there are only two that are in their absolute prime at this moment - Lukaku and Kane.

Others, albeit still top strikers, are past their prime and have zero resale value (Lewandowski, Suarez, Benzema, Aguero, Immobile) and one (Haaland) is a superstar in the making.

This leaves three options for us in terms of signing a tier 1 striker (not Ings and God knows what other Morata type of awful players) - Kane, who let's face it, Spurs would rather see him play with the U23s for the rest of his contract than sell him to Chelsea, Haaland who seems to have no desire to join any club this summer (for me he is nailed on for Real Madrid next summer; Mbappe, too) and Lukaku.

Lewandowsk - 33 in a few weeks, Benzema - 34 in a few months, Aguero just turned 33, Suarez soon to be 35. Truth is that the options for a top, top striker are somehow limited and there is only a handful of players in their prime at the moment and Lukaku seems to somehow easier to sign if we don't want to drag this whole thing to the last minutes of the window.

11 hours ago, Ballack & Blu said:

Wtf, we apparently match what they want and Alonso, but reject the offer, prize f**king melts, makes IM look ridiculous, we won’t get Lukaku because they’ll keep morphing the Goal posts…..move on Chelsea, or we will get mugged!!!

Yeah they only want more because of us. They are just waiting for that 100mil bid sadly and our board is getting duped by it. There is no way Lukaku is worth 100mil.

1 minute ago, goose said:

For those who are worried about him at Chelsea. 😄

For those who wanted him. 😢

Tom has spoken, so it’s not happening, well at least not for another 48hrs.

 

What do you mean? Whenever I think a transfer will happen, it does.

Trust me 😉

Don't know if I should be happy with this Lukaku bid. One, I don't think Lukaku has technique. He just runs and runs and uses power, but I don't think he's an intelligent player. That for me has not solved the problem we have upfront. I would have preferred even his strike partner in that Inter, Lautaro Martinez, to him.

And it bothers me why we are not going for those kinds of players, instead we are going for Lukaku. I think Arsenal are going for Lautaro Martinez now. I think they have Lacazette, Aubameyang and yet they are going for another one. Meanwhile Chelsea does not have a single striker. Now, if Arsenal's transfer window is making more sense than our transfer window, it's a big problem.

We are not hearing anything about the Kounde deal anymore, why's that? Now it's Lukaku.

What a transfer window.

Unfortunately, it looks like this one is going to happen. Look like Inter just want that golden 100mil figure.

 

6 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

For me the best center forwards in European football are Lewandowski, Haaland, Benzema, Aguero, Kane, Suarez, Lukaku and maybe, just maybe, Immobile. Others like Mbappe, Ronaldo, Griezmann, Messi, Lautaro Martinez etc. have different roles and are not pure center forwards that primary lead the line.

Out of that center forward list, IMHO there are only two that are in their absolute prime at this moment - Lukaku and Kane.

Others, albeit still top strikers, are past their prime and have zero resale value (Lewandowski, Suarez, Benzema, Aguero, Immobile) and one (Haaland) is a superstar in the making.

This leaves three options for us in terms of signing a tier 1 striker (not Ings and God knows what other Morata type of awful players) - Kane, who let's face it, Spurs would rather see him play with the U23s for the rest of his contract than sell him to Chelsea, Haaland who seems to have no desire to join any club this summer (for me he is nailed on for Real Madrid next summer; Mbappe, too) and Lukaku.

Lewandowsk - 33 in a few weeks, Benzema - 34 in a few months, Aguero just turned 33, Suarez soon to be 35. Truth is that the options for a top, top striker are somehow limited and there is only a handful of players in their prime at the moment and Lukaku seems to somehow easier to sign if we don't want to drag this whole thing to the last minutes of the window.

That is a good summary of the current options. We could certainly gamble on Haaland being available for a much lower price next season but then we will have a lot more competition for his signature. Not to mention a big part of his transfer (wages and agent fees) may rise if anything. There are very few top quality options under the age of 30 and that is why they are all priced so high. If we really want to sign a player in this category a big transfer will be involved. That means paying near to or the amount that selling the clubs ask for. Unless the club is becoming more conscious of finances then I have to assume we are now chasing Lukaku for one of a few reasons:

1) Lukaku was the preferred choice for Tuchel over Haaland

2) Haaland has already indicated that he does not want to come to Chelsea and has a deal with another club (rumours about Man United next summer), or he has told us that he will 100% not move this summer.

3) Dortmund have told us they will not sell this summer even at the quoted amount.

2 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Unfortunately, it looks like this one is going to happen. Look like Inter just want that golden 100mil figure.

 

looks like it...

some may see it as 75m cheaper than halland until we look at another 100m striker in 2 years time!!

anyway we can be certain he will score around 15goals which a lot better than our forwards last season..

but how i wish we think long term and act like reigning ucl winners...

10 minutes ago, hephzibah said:

Don't know if I should be happy with this Lukaku bid. One, I don't think Lukaku has technique. He just runs and runs and uses power, but I don't think he's an intelligent player. That for me has not solved the problem we have upfront. I would have preferred even his strike partner in that Inter, Lautaro Martinez, to him.

And it bothers me why we are not going for those kinds of players, instead we are going for Lukaku. I think Arsenal are going for Lautaro Martinez now. I think they have Lacazette, Aubameyang and yet they are going for another one. Meanwhile Chelsea does not have a single striker. Now, if Arsenal's transfer window is making more sense than our transfer window, it's a big problem.

We are not hearing anything about the Kounde deal anymore, why's that? Now it's Lukaku.

What a transfer window.

There are still stories most days about Kounde. It seems as though Sevilla want 68m for him and we keep trying to lowball, or include players that they don't want. The latest reported today was a cash + Kenedy deal which was flatly rejected. The only player they had some interest in so far was apparently Zouma and he didn't want to move to Sevilla. Most likely we will have to meet their asking price (or close to it) or move on to a new target

Slightly bemused by the generally negative reception of the prospect of signing a player that's scored 64 goals in his last two seasons. 

We all agree we need to score more goals and specifically need a striker that's good at doing it. 

Isn't that exactly what Lukaku is? I feel like I'm missing something.