Romelu Lukaku

[Term-X 7,891]

In the grand scheme of things, 'status wise'... he'll be in that Adebayor-category, in terms of his level, nothing more than that. The fact the club are letting him go to a domestic club, shows how much confidence they have in this decision, otherwise we'd push for the lower bid from Wolfsberg.

[The Skipper 20,593]

In this period, we signed Torres for 50 million pounds and Luiz for 25 million pounds in one transfer window : Jan 2011 instead of adressing the fact we had an ageing squad. Everyone could see that team needed repair after Ancelotti won the double, but we squandered 75 mil pounds on signings that will turn out to be failures. We finished 3rd, Ancelotti got sacked, then the season after, AVB's season, we again didn't deal with the ageing squad issue and we finished 6th, somehow winning the CL. AVB was NOT the greatest manager, but he wasn't helped by the board.

The signing of Torres still hurts us today. We then went into the 2012/13 season with only Torres as our recognized striker then signed Ba in the January transfer window, a desperation signing. That was also the season we were in 6 competitions. How a board let's it's manager start a season with only one (hopeless) striker in such circumstances, I don't know. We also let go of Miereles despite the fact we were short in midfield. Unsurprisingly, we won 1 out of 6 of those competitions, one we didn't even want to be in.

We then had this wierd, sign every AM in existence binge which only made the team unbalanced. How many AM's to make Torres score? Hazard, Oscar, Marin, KDB, Benayoun, Mata. etc. Unsurprisingly, only two from that period remain. We tried to make it work with Hazard, Mata and Oscar but improved impossible to do. Benitez recognized that.

Now enter Mourinho. It's only since he arrived that any semblance of sanity we had since 2010 returned. He balanced an unbalanced squad and signed players we actually needed. Matic, Schurrle, Willian, all very good signings, the first two being known recommendations of the manager. Now Diego Costa, Luis and Fabregas, other Mourinho signings. All at good prices too.

Mourinho set us straight not Emenalo. He's done an ok job, nothing amazing. We've been very hit and miss in the period of 2010-2013, both with transfers and managers.

Torres and Luiz were not signed by Emenalo. They were signed in Jan 2011. Emenalo took over in June 2011. So the whole premise of your post (which mainly seems to be critiquing the signing of Torres which is fair but he wasn't signed under Emenalo to begin with) is sort of invalid. Emenalo has done a fine job considering we didn't have a solid manager to work with for most of those years. It's obviously changed now with Mourinho though, and they've together in general done very well so far in the three transfer windows in which they've been working together.

[The Chels 2,502]

[The Skipper 20,593]

U seriously think Everton will win a trophy or qualify for champ league??

FA or Carling Cup, why not? Everton have a decent squad and a very good manager, they'll be in the mix for 4th for sure.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Didnt we pay 18 m or something like that for him?!

£12 million + add ons which I can't imagine we've triggered.

[didierforever 7,349]

In the grand scheme of things, 'status wise'... he'll be in that Adebayor-category, in terms of his level, nothing more than that. The fact the club are letting him go to a domestic club, shows how much confidence they have in this decision, otherwise we'd push for the lower bid from Wolfsberg.

ohhh... how did that confidence pan out when we sold sturridge to pool? and they almost won the league?

[Styles 9,790]

Gutted. End of.

Don't be. We have lost far better players who actually did stuff in a Chelsea shirt.

My abiding memory of Lukaku will be watching him fail to control the ball in the World Cup.

[Rambo 1,729]

Don't be. We have lost far better players who actually did stuff in a Chelsea shirt.

My abiding memory of Lukaku will be watching him fail to control the ball in the World Cup.

Or the missed penalty against Bayern. I've always wondered if he'd stay last season if he scored that.

[The Skipper 20,593]

ohhh... how did that confidence pan out when we sold sturridge to pool? and they almost won the league?

Sturridge surely did his bit, and he still remains one of my favourite players, but Liverpool almost won the league because of Suarez, not because of Sturridge, even though he was excellent.

You've got to be kidding yourself if you're trying to insinuate that Everton will win the league though.....

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Everton pc at 19:00. So this is it.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Torres and Luiz were not signed by Emenalo. They were signed in Jan 2011. Emenalo took over in June 2011. So the whole premise of your post (which mainly seems to be critiquing the signing of Torres which is fair but he wasn't signed under Emenalo to begin with) is sort of invalid. Emenalo has done a fine job considering we didn't have a solid manager to work with for most of those years. It's obviously changed now with Mourinho though, and they've together in general done very well so far in the three transfer windows in which they've been working together.

Yep, my bad, that's correct. But even if we discount those two signings, that was not the only point I made. He and his people are chiefly responsible for the unbalanced squad we had prior to Mourinho's arrival. Saying he's done a wonderful job is an over-statement. You know who did a wonderful job? Txixi Bergenstein at Man City.

[didierforever 7,349]

Sturridge surely did his bit, and he still remains one of my favourite players, but Liverpool almost won the league because of Suarez, not because of Sturridge, even though he was excellent.

You've got to be kidding yourself if you're trying to insinuate that Everton will win the league though.....

i was not saying that. but read the post made by term-x. adebayor??? lukaku is already double the player adebayor ever was. i can very well see lukaku getting a transfer to city in a couple of years!!!

sturridge played a MASSIVE part in that. dude, pool's first 3 matches of the season were 1-0 wins and all sturridge goals. that alone should count for something. 20+ PL goals.

[Korea 734]

Sturridge surely did his bit, and he still remains one of my favourite players, but Liverpool almost won the league because of Suarez, not because of Sturridge, even though he was excellent.

You've got to be kidding yourself if you're trying to insinuate that Everton will win the league though.....

Let's see how well Liverpool do next season with CL and without Suarez....

I say -10 min points from last season.

[Fernando 6,375]

Emenalo wasn't technical director when we signed Torres.

I think that was the turning point of our club.

While Torres being the worst transfer in the history of this club it also push us to change our approach to transfer dealing.

So if that was the "cost" of Torres, then I say it was well worth it for how our club has changed since then.

[LAM09 6,535]

Shame he has gone, as he did have potential. Either way, £25m is a decent price.

[Styles 9,790]

Or the missed penalty against Bayern. I've always wondered if he'd stay last season if he scored that.

He looked so nervous taking that penalty, and his general performance in that game was woeful. I'm convinced once he said he wanted to go out on loan last season Mourinho didn't try to stop him.

[different level 1,056]

Luke Shaw who's barely done anything and plays LB goes for £30m but a match winning striker who's scored over 30 goals in the last two seasons goes for £24m. Feels cheap.

Can't help but feel we could've got way more for him somewhere else but we probably did a Mata and let him go where he wanted to go.

Still don't forget most of the times unsettled players are sold for somewhat cut price fees. Lukaku has done a great job to unsettle himself over the past year...

That being said even Cesc was signed relatively cheap because he was unsettled at Barca and he also turned out cheaper than Shaw as we signed him for £27m.

[termninja 5,290]

All this Lukaku talk is really starting to piss me of. Sell his sorry ass or come out and say he is staying...