Pizy

The fact that we panicked and matched it at the last minute when it was far too late tells me that we were indeed caught completely off guard here. We probably figured we could sign Lukaku whenever we felt like it because he wanted to come here and no other big club was interested. Foolish and incompetent but as others have said, maybe a blessing in disguise that will kick our board into gear.

I think the board naively thought that we could just wait and until Costa was sold. I actually can believe they were totally blindsided by United coming in as is being reported. They figured Lukaku was desperate to return here and only had eyes for Chelsea. But I think about 90% of the reason this transfer happened was because of his best mate Pogba. They've probably been on holiday fantasizing about playing together nonstop. Add to that the phone call Mourinho surely made to him saying "you're coming to the biggest club in the world and you'll become a global superstar," as well as that greedy cunt of an agent Raiola pushing him towards Manchester. They probably made him feel über important and special while our board was farting around taking their time.

If we lost out on some transformative player to them I'd be depressed, but I don't really see Lukaku in that way. If this was Alex Sandro who looked like he was coming here and then suddenly turned up in Manchester I'd be shitting it. But is going from one of the greatest strikers ever (who was scoring at an elite level still) in Zlatan to Lukaku an upgrade heading into next season? Zlatan is miles and miles better technically that Rom is. So while Lukaku will surely score plenty of goals for them, I predict a lot of frustration when he's off form. Awful touch, losing the ball a lot, pretty lazy at times, and when he's having a poor game he's really poor. Zlatan could pull a moment of magic out of nothing even when playing badly. Not sure Lukaku will do that.

Watching all his goals from last season on YouTube and it felt like about 90% of them were tap ins from crosses (many from the excellent Dembele). If we got Alex Sandro to add to Hazard on the left side to feed him I think he'd be excellent. I'd personally prefer Belotti since he's much younger and is more suited to our playing style. Wouldn't say no to Auba, though.

This honestly doesn't feel gutting at all for me. Nothing like the feeling when KDB went to Man City. Just have to trust that in its embarrassment our club will go out and get our own striker.

Make Chelsea Brazil again!

While I'd be happy with Morata I definitely think he's riskier than either Lukaku or Belotti. He just doesn't strike me spas the alpha dog, leading man type. More of a nice piece of an already good side. Suppose he hasn't really been given the opportunity at Real Madrid so that can change here of course.

Now we look even worse than we did by not bidding. We went in at the last minute like desperate mugs and still lost out on him. Belotti, please!

Welp. Everyone's been briefed.

No way would the club match the bid to "save face" and tell the fans "at least we tried." Then the narrative would be even more embarrassing if he had identical offers and still turned us down.

According to United fans he was a donkey when he was originally on his way here, then yesterday he became top class, now if he ends up here he'll be back to being shit. Fun to watch.

So sick of the media making Conte out to be this explosive maniac who does nothing but run around angry and yelling at people all day. As if they have a fucking clue what he's thinking.

Think Maxwell left, didn't he?

Think he'll be the next Real Madrid target a year from now if he doesn't move this summer and has another season like last. For that reason it's probably now or never for us. The reason I'd prefer him to Morata is because of his tenacity. Almost Costa like without the dirty side of it. Look at this, for example: The sort of player that will thrive in the PL.

If Mou doesn't win the league this season having bought the two most expensive players ever in back to back Summer's it'll be embarrassing.

Just make damn sure Conte gets his absolute #1 choice striker now amongst whoever is available. These reports of him being unhappy will hopefully fade away and we may very well be better off having missed out on Lukaku. It certainly looks bad from the outside looking in that he hasn't signed a new contract. Then again, knowing how utterly shite the media has been reporting Chelsea news this summer, Conte may have signed the contract ages ago and the club have just kept things quiet.

If I see the phrase "in the coming hours" again I'm gonna break something. FFS, they've said that for every player we've been linked with and it never happens.

This has supposedly been done for weeks yet still not announced. For that reason it is actually a bit believable that there's some sort of snag the club have hit. The most annoying thing mentioned is this concept that Chelsea must sell in order to buy. This at a time when the club has more cash than ever and we are apparently struggling to sign players.

Go all out for him and if it's not possible get Morata.

Like I suggested last week, it honestly won't surprise me if Mourinho wasn't also secretly after Sandro as well as Lukaku. No way is he going to trust Luke Shaw or whatever other bums they have at LB.

Already feels like ages since we last heard a peep about this.

Perfect striker to bring on late in matches if we need a goal. Also perfect striker to use in the domestic cup competitions against weaker opponents. He'll terrorize small clubs and allow us to rest whoever our new first choice striker is.

Getting myself more and more hyped at the idea of Morata or Belotti. Quicker, more technically gifted strikers. Something we haven't had at Chelsea in a long time. Not to sound bitter about Lukaku potentially going to United (because I did want him here and thought he'd do well) but I actually don't think he's going to take them to a new level. I mean, they had fucking Zlatan who is a level above Lukaku even at age 35 and they struggled. And he's a technically excellent footballer in addition to being the physical monster that Rom is. I suspect that Lukaku will get his 20 goals per season there but I also suspect that there will be a lot of frustration over his ability and his probable struggles against the better opponents they face.

If we start the season with Llorente as our first choice striker then we can worry. For now we can just relax. The club have got this! We'll sign a new #9, Lukaku or no Lukaku.

All this selling off of players we've been doing and all of the hoarding of cash we've done lately... You never know! Would certainly be a megaton bomb that would put the rest of Europe on notice.