Romelu Lukaku back to Chelsea - and gone again!

[Hensi]

19 minutes ago, abramovich said:

When you say Lukaku "was pivotal in their Europa League final appearance" what do you mean, exactly? In that final he scored an early penalty and then scored an own goal that ended up being a winner for Sevilla. 

I also have reservations about Lukaku's possible reaction to rotation. His impressive goal scoring record is mostly due to being prolific against fodder, against top sides he regularly struggles. Yet he's got a huge ego and I wonder how he'll take being left out of the first eleven when we decide to go with the false nine in certain important games.

Now, he does help us massively when it comes to goal scoring, which was our biggest problem last season. As much as I dislike his limitations, Lukaku certainly is a prolific scorer and is clearly better at it than anyone in our current squad. If he can buy into Tuchel's system and score his usual seasonal amount , it's difficult to see the downside to his arrival. I just hope that he stays fit and keeps his ego in check because it looks like it's actually happening.

By Lukaku being pivotal for their EL Final, I mean that he was instrumental throughout the whole run. He was among the top scorers in the competition, providing vital goals and assists for them to reach that stage. Yes, they lost the final with Lukaku missing a sitter, however, that does not mean he had no contribution for it and was voted as a player of the competition, which is an accomplishment itself. 

AFAIK, he was voted MVP of Seria A this season so I find it hard to agree with the narrative he is mediocre at best. 

[Hensi]

43 minutes ago, ozboy said:

Kane has 166 goals from 242 premier league games and a bunch of assists as well. His record is outstanding. On the negative side he has been regularly injured and seems to have lost pace. 

And Lukaku has 113 goals in 252 matches with 35 assists as well. I think that is impressive as well considering he spent most of his career in EPL playing for WBA and Everton and just two season for a top side with United. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Hensi

[enigma]

It sounds harsh on Lukaku, but I'm still bummed out that we didn't try harder for Haaland. The thought of Haaland going elsewhere next summer is a real kick in the nuts when we had our best shot at getting him this summer.

If the fee for Lukaku ends up being around €120m, then it will make me wonder why we couldn't go that extra mile and throw a little more money at getting Haaland who, right now, is arguably the biggest talent in football, and In a position we were weaker in.

If he goes to another English club next summer, it will be gutting. He is a player who could have signed a five year contract and still only been 25 after it was up. Lukaku on the other hand is at the tail end of his career. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by enigma

[Argo]

36 minutes ago, enigma said:

It sounds harsh on Lukaku, but I'm still bummed out that we didn't try harder for Haaland. The thought of Haaland going elsewhere next summer is a real kick in the nuts when we had our best shot at getting him this summer.

If the fee for Lukaku ends up being around €120m, then it will make me wonder why we couldn't go that extra mile and throw a little more money at getting Haaland who, right now, is arguably the biggest talent in football, and In a position we were weaker in.

If he goes to another English club next summer, it will be gutting. He is a player who could have signed a five year contract and still only been 25 after it was up. Lukaku on the other hand is at the tail end of his career. 

The idea that Haaland would have been long term here is incredibly naive, Raiola would have pre prepared his next move before he even signed.

Edited August 4, 2021 by Argo

[enigma]

8 minutes ago, Argo said:

The idea that Haaland would have been long term here is incredibly naive, Raoila would have pre prepared his next move before he even signed.

Depends what we won. For most players it's about winning trophies. If we were winning the league and maybe another CL trophy, there's no reason be wouldn't have stayed. However, even if he stayed and left at 24/25, it would mean we had him during his early prime years. 

[Argo]

11 minutes ago, enigma said:

Depends what we won. For most players it's about winning trophies. If we were winning the league and maybe another CL trophy, there's no reason be wouldn't have stayed. However, even if he stayed and left at 24/25, it would mean we had him during his early prime years. 

Even if by some miracle we stole his heart (he doesn't seem the type to get too attached, plus he's a Leeds fan so I can't imagine his opinion of us is particularly pleasant), he doesn't have any control of his destiny.

Raiola clients do as their told.

[evissy]

Weird we didn't even make a bid on Haaland. Maybe our board knew it would be 200m and was offput by Raiola or something else. Haaland would fit perfectly even by his age. Young lads usually hang out with young lads. We have one of the best crop of young talent in our squad.

My hope is Tuchel wants the player he know will do well in his system. He is good at handling egos. He handled Neymar with ease. That is no problem. 

This 100m for 28 Yr old means he starts every game. With Kai it was a bit different as he is much younger. Roman starts knocking Tuchel's door if he doesn't start Lukaku when he is healthy. There are no explanations if you drop Lukaku if he hits the rut. 

[Argo]

2 minutes ago, evissy said:

Weird we didn't even make a bid on Haaland. Maybe our board knew it would be 200m and was offput by Raiola or something else. Haaland would fit perfectly even by his age. Young lads usually hang out with young lads. We have one of the best crop of young talent in our squad.

My hope is Tuchel wants the player he know will do well in his system. He is good at handling egos. He handled Neymar with ease. That is no problem. 

This 100m for 28 Yr old means he starts every game. With Kai it was a bit different as he is much younger. Roman starts knocking Tuchel's door if he doesn't start Lukaku when he is healthy. There are no explanations if you drop Lukaku if he hits the rut. 

Because it wasn't "just the £30m more" like people claim. I've read some instances where Raiola wants £40m, the dad wants £10-20m and Haaland wants a signing fee of £10-20m. 

Not to mention we would have had to smash our wage structure to sign him, which would have had serious knock on effects down the line.

Financially, it was never realistic.

[Guest Sindre]

5 minutes ago, evissy said:

This 100m for 28 Yr old means he starts every game. With Kai it was a bit different as he is much younger. Roman starts knocking Tuchel's door if he doesn't start Lukaku when he is healthy. There are no explanations if you drop Lukaku if he hits the rut. 

I don't think he'll have to drop him.

I expect Lukaku and Havertz to form a fantastic partnership. Lukaku will elevate Kai and Kai can do the same to Lukaku in my view.

City have just signed Grealish for £100 million apparently. It sounds like we will sign Lukaku for about the same and in my view he strengthens us a lot more than Grealish does for City. It's the price you have to pay for top players these days so I don't worry much about the fee.

[Argo]

1 minute ago, Sindre said:

I don't think he'll have to drop him.

I expect Lukaku and Havertz to form a fantastic partnership. Lukaku will elevate Kai and Kai can do the same to Lukaku in my view.

The jury is still very much out on him in big games.

For all Werner"s faults, his goal against Real Madrid is bigger than any Rom has ever scored.

If he doesn't significantly improve his record in them (and with our early fixtures we are quickly going to get a good idea on whether he will or not) then Tuchel is in a very unenviable position.

[Guest Sindre]

4 minutes ago, Argo said:

The jury is still very much out on him in big games.

For all Werner"s faults, his goal against Real Madrid is bigger than any Rom has ever scored.

If he doesn't significantly improve his record in them (and with our early fixtures we are quickly going to get a good idea on whether he will or not) then Tuchel is in a very unenviable position.

He's delivered in big games for Inter. His record against top six in Italy have been terrific.

He was also instrumental in knocking PSG out in his last season at United by scoring twice. So he's shown he can do it.

[big blue]

1 hour ago, enigma said:

It sounds harsh on Lukaku, but I'm still bummed out that we didn't try harder for Haaland. The thought of Haaland going elsewhere next summer is a real kick in the nuts when we had our best shot at getting him this summer.

If the fee for Lukaku ends up being around €120m, then it will make me wonder why we couldn't go that extra mile and throw a little more money at getting Haaland who, right now, is arguably the biggest talent in football, and In a position we were weaker in.

If he goes to another English club next summer, it will be gutting. He is a player who could have signed a five year contract and still only been 25 after it was up. Lukaku on the other hand is at the tail end of his career. 

Its not a case of just putting up the extra transfer fee. Haaland probably cost £100m+ more than Lukaku overall when you take into account wages, agent fees, dad fees, and the transfer fee. 

Now i know their is the possibility of resale value, but as we are seeing with Pogba, Raiola could just advise him to run down his contract anyway, and if the likes of Madrid and Barcelona are still struggling financially then, that will be the case. Look at Mbappe, cost PSG an absolute fortune, and they are 6 months away from him moving for free aswell. 

 

[dansubrosa]

Lukaku has to start firing immediately for that price and if he can form a great relationship with Havertz, and also build a similar relationship with Werner abit like him and Poulsen at Leipzig.

Then maybe it’ll be a good purchase, I don’t doubt that he’s going to score goals, it’s just how he’d work with the team.

If if was up to me I’d avoid him but hey ho. I’ll back him if he joins.

[charierre]

This feels like a transfer four years too late. He is though now in his prime and as others have said really has to hit the ground running to justify his large fee. He has been labelled a flat track bully which is maybe what we have required sometimes. His raw goals stats have been impressive let’s hope they continue and not another cursed striker. Werner has been at his best playing off a target man so just maybe we will get to the best of him too. Could we be evolving back to a flat back four? It is clear we will need more strings to our bow if we are to mount any kind of a title challenge.

Wonder where @pacquiao is these days? 

Edited August 4, 2021 by charierre

[Wearyourblue]

If we are willing to go 120 for Lukaku, we should go 240 for Haaland, we would get 4 years better production from Haaland, and then make a profit.

[Luiz4Chelsea]

32 minutes ago, Wearyourblue said:

If we are willing to go 120 for Lukaku, we should go 240 for Haaland, we would get 4 years better production from Haaland, and then make a profit.

So you're convinced we're guaranteed to get more than 240m down the line for a 21 y o striker from the Bundesliga managed by Mino Raiola

[ForeverCarefree]

Jack Grealish a man who at 26 has never played a game in Europe. Has just 13 caps for his country and has played in a team that the entire philosophy is basically give him the ball and let him win free kicks is about to sign for Manchester City for £100m.

Jack Grealish has proved nothing in top flight football. His goals and assists for Villa are comparable to Willian at Chelsea. 

This man is about to become the most expensive player in England. 

Yet we have people downcast at the prospect of signing one of Europe's most prolific strikers in his prime. 

[thebluekid]

5 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Jack Grealish a man who at 26 has never played a game in Europe. Has just 13 caps for his country and has played in a team that the entire philosophy is basically give him the ball and let him win free kicks is about to sign for Manchester City for £100m.

Jack Grealish has proved nothing in top flight football. His goals and assists for Villa are comparable to Willian at Chelsea. 

This man is about to become the most expensive player in England. 

Yet we have people downcast at the prospect of signing one of Europe's most prolific strikers in his prime. 

It’s embarrassing to read; some of these posters must be playing FIFA

[hephzibah]

20 hours ago, forbzy said:

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

So annoying that at this stage of the transfer window, the board cannot make these deals. The board should not forget that they are not the only ones supporting Chelsea, there are millions of fans all over the world supporting Chelsea, and all these fans have been anticipating transfers this summer.

All these fans know that if we sign players quickly, then next season will be settled, we can go again and see if we can compete for the premier league title or the Champions league title again. It is so bad that we've not sorted our transfers up till now.

Personally I feel we need a defensive midfielder, a central defender and a striker.

How come clubs like Man Utd and Arsenal have got some players already this summer, I think that's because they know they need these players and they went quickly for them. How do we intend to try to win the premier league or champions league next season if we do not try to sign the players we need to perform well in the premier league and the champions league?

For the sake of the fans, the board should sign these deals on time. Many of us are tired of waiting for these deals. If we had bidded £68m for Kounde and sold Zouma for £20m to Westham by now, I feel Sevilla would have accepted it and I think it would have made sense. But the board seems inactive about the deals and it's strange. 

Kounde is 22 years old and that means we can have him for about a decade all things being equal, he's a very good defender, and I feel he will be an upgrade on Aspilicueta who I feel may struggle against some teams in the world at the moment. Kounde will not struggle and we also need rotation just to keep the guys fresh. Since Kounde is still young, I feel it will be a very good investment for the club, we can sell him even after four years and still make a fortune of him, or we would not need to buy any player to replace him for maybe 10 years, if he remains with us in those ten years. And for me that is good business for the club. So, let's use the money we have gotten from the players we have sold so far this summer, and add £20m from Zouma's sale to it, and get this guy.

He's an investment and he is very good, just like the one they called generational talent last season, Kai Havertz, so no doubt about him.

For Lukaku, the club should just release the money, and let's buy him. The reason I want us to try to complete these two deals this summer is because I feel the team just needs maybe the two deals alone and we would be able to compete in the premier league, and for many years, if the players stay together, since they are young players, they may be able to play together for 7 or 8 years and grow together and win things together, and from a club point of view, that will be a very beautiful piece of business, not spending much and winning many trophies.

Massive profit.

[thebluekid]

2 minutes ago, hephzibah said:

So annoying that at this stage of the transfer window, the board cannot make these deals. The board should not forget that they are not the only ones supporting Chelsea, there are millions of fans all over the world supporting Chelsea, and all these fans have been anticipating transfers this summer.

All these fans know that if we sign players quickly, then next season will be settled, we can go again and see if we can compete for the premier league title or the Champions league title again. It is so bad that we've not sorted our transfers up till now.

Personally I feel we need a defensive midfielder, a central defender and a striker.

How come clubs like Man Utd and Arsenal have got some players already this summer, I think that's because they know they need these players and they went quickly for them. How do we intend to try to win the premier league or champions league next season if we do not try to sign the players we need to perform well in the premier league and the champions league?

For the sake of the fans, the board should sign these deals on time. Many of us are tired of waiting for these deals. If we had bidded £68m for Kounde and sold Zouma for £20m to Westham by now, I feel Sevilla would have accepted it and I think it would have made sense. But the board seems inactive about the deals and it's strange. 

Kounde is 22 years old and that means we can have him for about a decade all things being equal, he's a very good defender, and I feel he will be an upgrade on Aspilicueta who I feel may struggle against some teams in the world at the moment. Kounde will not struggle and we also need rotation just to keep the guys fresh. Since Kounde is still young, I feel it will be a very good investment for the club, we can sell him even after four years and still make a fortune of him, or we would not need to buy any player to replace him for maybe 10 years, if he remains with us in those ten years. And for me that is good business for the club. So, let's use the money we have gotten from the players we have sold so far this summer, and add £20m from Zouma's sale to it, and get this guy.

He's an investment and he is very good, just like the one they called generational talent last season, Kai Havertz, so no doubt about him.

For Lukaku, the club should just release the money, and let's buy him. The reason I want us to try to complete these two deals this summer is because I feel the team just needs maybe the two deals alone and we would be able to compete in the premier league, and for many years, if the players stay together, since they are young players, they may be able to play together for 7 or 8 years and grow together and win things together, and from a club point of view, that will be a very beautiful piece of business, not spending much and winning many trophies.

Massive profit.

Do you remember the quarter of a billion pounds we spent last summer? Was it done overnight? No it wasn’t. I understand that it’s ‘frustrating’ for the fans; we’re talking about huge sums of money. The clubs that sell need to replace talent, so on and so forth.

[axman2526]

17 minutes ago, thebluekid said:

Do you remember the quarter of a billion pounds we spent last summer? Was it done overnight? No it wasn’t. I understand that it’s ‘frustrating’ for the fans; we’re talking about huge sums of money. The clubs that sell need to replace talent, so on and so forth.

Indeed. We have a good team and a good manager. We should be happy with that.

[Oli]

22 minutes ago, hephzibah said:

So annoying that at this stage of the transfer window, the board cannot make these deals. The board should not forget that they are not the only ones supporting Chelsea, there are millions of fans all over the world supporting Chelsea, and all these fans have been anticipating transfers this summer.

All these fans know that if we sign players quickly, then next season will be settled, we can go again and see if we can compete for the premier league title or the Champions league title again. It is so bad that we've not sorted our transfers up till now.

Personally I feel we need a defensive midfielder, a central defender and a striker.

How come clubs like Man Utd and Arsenal have got some players already this summer, I think that's because they know they need these players and they went quickly for them. How do we intend to try to win the premier league or champions league next season if we do not try to sign the players we need to perform well in the premier league and the champions league?

For the sake of the fans, the board should sign these deals on time. Many of us are tired of waiting for these deals. If we had bidded £68m for Kounde and sold Zouma for £20m to Westham by now, I feel Sevilla would have accepted it and I think it would have made sense. But the board seems inactive about the deals and it's strange. 

Kounde is 22 years old and that means we can have him for about a decade all things being equal, he's a very good defender, and I feel he will be an upgrade on Aspilicueta who I feel may struggle against some teams in the world at the moment. Kounde will not struggle and we also need rotation just to keep the guys fresh. Since Kounde is still young, I feel it will be a very good investment for the club, we can sell him even after four years and still make a fortune of him, or we would not need to buy any player to replace him for maybe 10 years, if he remains with us in those ten years. And for me that is good business for the club. So, let's use the money we have gotten from the players we have sold so far this summer, and add £20m from Zouma's sale to it, and get this guy.

He's an investment and he is very good, just like the one they called generational talent last season, Kai Havertz, so no doubt about him.

For Lukaku, the club should just release the money, and let's buy him. The reason I want us to try to complete these two deals this summer is because I feel the team just needs maybe the two deals alone and we would be able to compete in the premier league, and for many years, if the players stay together, since they are young players, they may be able to play together for 7 or 8 years and grow together and win things together, and from a club point of view, that will be a very beautiful piece of business, not spending much and winning many trophies.

Massive profit.

Good idea, lets just spend half a billion this summer in the first week or our fans will be suffering all summer until they get their new shiny toys to brag about🙄

Major big money signings dont happen overnight. Especially not ones that break the british transfer record

 

[abister1]

43 minutes ago, thebluekid said:

Do you remember the quarter of a billion pounds we spent last summer? Was it done overnight? No it wasn’t. I understand that it’s ‘frustrating’ for the fans; we’re talking about huge sums of money. The clubs that sell need to replace talent, so on and so forth.

I think it's Fifa that has devalued money. Fans are very unrealistic in most aspects and this is unfortunately now the case for transfers too. 

Arsenal signed a "nobody" for £50m in terms of his recognition on the global, and some might even argue British footballing stage so whilst the fee for Lukaku is high, it is still well worth it for what his stats say he is and what he has done on the global stage. 

Haaland however, the fee will be in excess of £200m (Dortmund at least 150m, Raiola 36m, Papa Haaland 10m, Haaland sign on 10-20m) apart from his wages, which as had been noted will absolutely smash the ceiling of our wage structure. Not financially healthy for the squad, and the club in the long term, even if the boss has the Rubles to facilitate it. 

It will be a nightmare for Economic and forecasting analysts within the club and its no wonder there's been nothing official from us yet. 

[The Don Antonio]

1 hour ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Jack Grealish a man who at 26 has never played a game in Europe. Has just 13 caps for his country and has played in a team that the entire philosophy is basically give him the ball and let him win free kicks is about to sign for Manchester City for £100m.

Jack Grealish has proved nothing in top flight football. His goals and assists for Villa are comparable to Willian at Chelsea. 

This man is about to become the most expensive player in England. 

Yet we have people downcast at the prospect of signing one of Europe's most prolific strikers in his prime. 

2 wrongs don't make a right. Most people who are against Lukaku dont have short memories and remember how he fared at Man u. Even an aged Ibrahimovic was better than him. To be fair he improved in italy and has scored lots of goals in Italy but in that same time as Lukaku in italy Ciro Immobile has scored 19 more goals, does that mean that we should buy Immobile.

      I really just pray this is media talk and when the window closes Lukaku stays his ass in Milan

 

[evissy]

1 hour ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Jack Grealish a man who at 26 has never played a game in Europe. Has just 13 caps for his country and has played in a team that the entire philosophy is basically give him the ball and let him win free kicks is about to sign for Manchester City for £100m.

Jack Grealish has proved nothing in top flight football. His goals and assists for Villa are comparable to Willian at Chelsea. 

This man is about to become the most expensive player in England. 

Yet we have people downcast at the prospect of signing one of Europe's most prolific strikers in his prime. 

Well composed post. 

Grealish skillset is something City want. They want a skilled midfielder/winger who can make plays in City's style of football. He wins freekicks and he is good making a decisive pass. He is their style and under Pep he will get to another level. Not a huge fan of the player but I appreciate his skills. He is also English so that adds 30-40m pounds to his pricetag. 

Lukaku is 28 old striker who was brilliant last season in Italy. He played 8 years in England. In a top team as some might describe Manchester United he scored 28 goals in 66 matches. So two seasons and 14 goals per season. If Tammy was given 66 games he'd score 28 goals for us. His record for us is 21 goals in 58 and he is 23. 

Why for me the top team narrative is important is because all top teams face deep defenses in games against smaller sides. 

Now Lukaku might be a hit for us and this is naturally what I wish from the bottom of my heart. I just don't see how he is better than what we have. Werner has a season under his belt in England and he was one of the most profilic striker in Germany for 2-3 seasons. Now we are making Lukaku one of the all time deals in history. He is not that valuable.