Romelu Lukaku

[The Skipper 20,593]

Conspiracy theories out of the window then.

This is the best for Romelu, I'm very glad he sees so himself. I'm pretty glad he doesn't have the same mentality as some on here. Lukaku is realistic, he knows that if he wants to become the striker that he can be he needs to be playing regularly whilst working on his lesser qualities (link up play comes to mind which he'll definitely develop at Everton).

This really is the best for Romelu rather than having him come off the bench now and then for us. He'll gain more experience, be more mature when he comes back, and most importantly, be a better rounded and better footballer.

Lukaku

Pienaar - Barkley - Mirallas

Barry - McCarthy

Baines - Distin - Jagielka - Coleman

Howard

Fantastically solid team that could easily finish top 6, maybe even challenge top 4 if they settle down.

Once again, it's a brilliant loan move. Lukaku will be the number one striker ahead of Jelavic and Kone (anyone saying otherwise is just being bitter) and he will develop much more as a footballer at Everton than he will here.

There's no rush with this guy people. He's only 20 and has the world ahead of him. Have faith, look past the blind hatred, it's the right decision made for his and our future.

[didierforever 7,349]

our board's desicion with the youth in this windown has been a little shocking. no loan moves for chalobah and especially JOSH MCEACHRAN. and shipping off romelu on loan while keeping BA here.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

This is what really happened:

First of all... I will not mingle myself into all these discussions if this loan move is good for him or not. Clearly he needs to play. If he was benched for us all season... a loan move is absolutely the right choice! BUT... this is what really happened yesterday night!

• Lukaku was promised a loan wouldn't be necessary this season. Both coach and board said they believed in him this season to stay at the bridge. This was even confirmed once again last week... both towards the player himself as to his manager Christophe.
• Chelsea was not planning a loan on him

Problems with BA:

• the club wanted Demba Ba to go out on loan. But other than Arsenal... no club came to show actual interest. Since Roman didn't want Demba to go to a direct competitor of us... they wanted to wait until the deadline to find another club.
• No club came with an actual offer... Arsenal was once again thought off but eventually Roman had the final decision= NO!

Too many strikers:

• With Eto'o, Torres, Lukaku and Ba... surely at least one striker had to go on a loan. Everybody agreed it should be BA. Since this plan failed... with the clock ticking Lukaku suddenly became an option again.
• Interest of several clubs: West Brom, Everton & Malaga were the most direct.

Lukaku was not involved:

• Roms was in Belgium with our NT yesterday night. He himself was not involved in the discussions.
• He got to know the club was thinking about loaning him out all over sudden late in the evening.
• Rom was rather shocked since he was promised a loan wouldn't be an option this year. Lukaku really wanted to play for us this season!
• When he heard a loan would be the case... Apart from being devastated and shocked, Romelu only wanted one thing: back to West Brom.

The club chooses Everton:

• With midnight arriving... Romelu got informed the club was going to loan him out to Everton.
• When he heard this, Romelu was REALLY disappointed!! First of all he didn't want to out on loan, secondly he was promised he would get his chance this season... and finally he had said IF he had to go... WBA was the only club he wanted to go to.
• Nevertheless the Club chooses Everton.

Lukaku angry but professional:

• being angry & disappointed about the promises not being kept... Romelu felt really bad.
• Nevertheless he remained calm and most of all very professional!
• He was backed by his buddy Kevin Mirallas (Everton player) and soon he send his tweet into the world: happy to sign at Everton. Not really the case... but he's just a loyal and professional boy.

As you see the club broke his promises and used Romelu as a plaything in their game with Demba which was going to fail! Apart from the outcome (probably being good for Rom's himself if he was to be benched all season) => this clearly bad management! Moreover you need to know we are dealing with human beings. In regard to Lukaku... the club already made so many mistakes... We can only be thrilled if Lukaku comes back for us in Winter or Next summer to ONCE AGAIN give his best to earn a spot in a team that doesn't give him chances!

I just almost cried after reading this :cry:

But im sure lukaku wants to play for belgium in this world cup more than anything. Everton loan can only boost his chances more

[The Skipper 20,593]

I just almost cried after reading this :cry:

It's not what happened though, if you scroll down a little further Lukaku himself is delighted with the loan move and blasts this theory away, so save your tears.

[Strike 7,254]

Poor planning

[hjperdeath 2,226]

It's not what happened though, if you scroll down a little further Lukaku himself is delighted with the loan move and blasts this theory away, so save your tears.

Plus another thing to add is that the loan procedure isn't like that. When a club puts up a player for loan, they receive offers and go through them. They accept it, and recommend it to the player and his agent. Considering Lukaku is with NT, his agent reviewed it. If he didn't like it, he could say no. So it's absolute bullshit that it's against his will. It's not possible.

[JDY 1,290]

The truth is no one knows except the club and Romelu himself.

He isn't exactly going to blast the club in an interview and say he wanted to go to WBA. Lukaku seems like a very professional guy and I wouldn't blame him for being angry, but he probably knows he just has to get on with it.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Lukaku about his move to #Everton: "I'm really happy with this transfer. I don't know who has told the press I was unhappy with this loan."

"It was a crazy evening. Different clubs called me and I had to take the right decision."

"Roberto #Martinez called me for 30 minutes and explained me what he expects from me.

DONE AND DUSTED.

[bushman 2,043]

Now, I read Lukaku is delighted to play for Everton ?

Has any of you thought, now he was gonna say screw Everton ?

[hjperdeath 2,226]

db

[robsblubot 3,530]

Just don't understand the surprise by the club that they were unable to unload Ba... Something predicted by a few of us on Demba Ba's Thread. He's a decent player on high wages, which is a bad combo. Chelsea wouldn't want to loan him and still pay over 50% of his wages, and only a club like Arsenal would be able to afford his full wages.

No surprise we've been having trouble unloading unwanted players... thought WC proximity would help more in that regard.

[The Skipper 20,593]

The truth is no one knows except the club and Romelu himself.

He isn't exactly going to blast the club in an interview and say he wanted to go to WBA. Lukaku seems like a very professional guy and I wouldn't blame him for being angry, but he probably knows he just has to get on with it.

Lukaku about his move to #Everton: "I decided that #EFC was the best choice. A more prominent club than West Brom where I had a good time."

[JDY 1,290]

Lukaku about his move to #Everton: "I decided that #EFC was the best choice. A more prominent club than West Brom where I had a good time."

All I'm saying is that only he knows where he would've preferred to go. He isn't going to come out and say he wanted to move to WBA after he signed for Everton.

Anyway, I said before I'd rather him go to work with Martinez than head to WBA again.

[Leif 6,006]

I actually think this is the perfect move for him. He's proven he can kick it with a mid-table team in West Brom who only ever aim for an average league finish. Now he's at Everton who, despite their rather 'meh' start this season, have consistently been pushing for a Europa League spot in recent memory. Everton, perhaps more-so specifically Roberto Martinez, do decent in the cups so he'll definitely be getting plenty of games and possibly more opportunities to work on clutch moments in high-pressure situations such as penalty shoot-outs.

This is a step up from Mid-table/West Brom. This is now Pushing for Europe/Everton. After this step you actually get competing in Europe. So after this loan, assuming he impresses, I think he'll finally be ready for a proper part in our team. His direct competition for a starting spot at Everton is: Kone & Jelavic. Here it would be Torres & Eto'o (Ba would probably have left had Lukaku stayed of course.) On paper, it looks to me more difficult to beat Torres & Eto'o to a starting spot than it is against Everton's strikers. This loan move will be telling. If he can't compete with Jelavic and Kone, how on earth will he compete with strikers at a top club like Chelsea? If he can however start ahead of both of Everton's strikers, he can finally be a genuine candidate in a manager's mind. The jump from starting striker at West Brom to starting striker at Chelsea is just a bit too much.

For huge clubs like Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Milan etc. this is just the ideal way of doing things with well developed but still rough diamonds. We can't afford just throwing in youngsters because they've showed some bright sparks like Liverpool did with Sterling, Arsenal did with Chamberlain or even England did with Walcott (if that can count). If you thrust a young footballer into the spotlight too quick at a top club, no matter how talented they may be, it's usually damaging.

Edit: Just a thought: Lukaku was never going to be our starting striker after Eto'o was confirmed to be ours, so surely this move should please Belgian fans? If Benteke can get selected for what he does for Villa then Lukaku can surely get selected for what he's going to do for Everton. You'll have 2 strikers properly competing for the striker spot in your national team instead of a firing Benteke and an in-and-out-the-team Lukaku at Chelsea. This then comes back to Chelsea as the more he gets to play for his national team, the more chemistry he builds with De Bruyne & Hazard and the more he just develops - period.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

I actually think this is the perfect move for him. He's proven he can kick it with a mid-table team in West Brom who only ever aim for an average league finish. Now he's at Everton who, despite their rather 'meh' start this season, have consistently been pushing for a Europa League spot in recent memory. Everton, perhaps more-so specifically Roberto Martinez, do decent in the cups so he'll definitely be getting plenty of games and possibly more opportunities to work on clutch moments in high-pressure situations such as penalty shoot-outs.

This is a step up from Mid-table/West Brom. This is now Pushing for Europe/Everton. After this step you actually get competing in Europe. So after this loan, assuming he impresses, I think he'll finally be ready for a proper part in our team. His direct competition for a starting spot at Everton is: Kone & Jelavic. Here it would be Torres & Eto'o (Ba would probably have left had Lukaku stayed of course.) On paper, it looks to me more difficult to beat Torres & Eto'o to a starting spot than it is against Everton's strikers. This loan move will be telling. If he can't compete with Jelavic and Kone, how on earth will he compete with strikers at a top club like Chelsea? If he can however start ahead of both of Everton's strikers, he can finally be a genuine candidate in a manager's mind. The jump from starting striker at West Brom to starting striker at Chelsea is just a bit too much.

For huge clubs like Chelsea, Real Madrid, Valencia, AC Milan etc. this is just the ideal way of doing things with well developed but still rough diamonds. We can't afford just throwing in youngsters because they've showed some bright sparks like Liverpool did with Sterling, Arsenal did with Chamberlain or even England did with Walcott (if that can count). If you thrust a young footballer into the spotlight too quick at a top club, no matter how talented they may be, it's usually damaging.

In the last bit, another example is Owen. Was played too much at Liverpool, and then moved to Madrid. Injury after injury, and he was done.

[Atholy 1,293]

Guys please don't be naive!

So of course he's is going to say that he likes the idea of playing for Everton and that he will do his very best to work harder to become a better player...

=> simply because that's just the way Romelu is: 100% professional and loyal towards his club.

And it isn't even a lie... because all in all a loan to Everton is a good step in his further development + probably the best thing facing a World Cup next summer.

BUT that doens't mean this is the way Lukaku planned it himself.

I stick to my sources (as I told before I know Romelu and a lot of people close to him, Anderlecht & the belgian NT).

Story is that Rom's himself woke up yesterday morning thinking he would return to the bridge after the game against Scotland as a Chelsea Blue!

I didn't say he was NOT aware of the fact he got loaned out and all of this was a surprise at 00h01!!

• He did get a phone call from his manager yesterday night to inform him what Chelsea were planning to do (problems with BA => Rom's was plan B .
• He then called his parents (who weren't against this loan). Until this far his first choice was still WBA IF he had to go out on loan.
• He called Mourinho (who explained the case and said Everton would be the best choice to practice his running lines and movement. Furthermore Everton plays a lot more on ball possession as WBA + also the pressure on Rom's will also be a lot higher here. All in all good reasons to go out on loan IF you are told it will be difficult to get a lot of game time at Chelsea).
• He then called Martinez who told him he was eager to get Rom's on a loan deal. He also convinced Romelu that this deal could be the best option for him.

In the end Romelu agreed on the deal. So of course it wasn't all against his will (not what I said). BUT it's not what he had in mind... and it was certainly not what he planned for. And especially after the club stated a loan deal would not be the case... there were no reasons to doubt that.

Conclusion of the story:

• The will of the player is always inferior to the will of the club. Also if they change their opinions on the last day of the transfer market.
• Romelu was loaned out because the club didn't manage to find a solution for BA.
• We are lucky Romelu is so professional, ambitious & of good will! I can think of some other players (also on instagram/twitter/...) who would have responded differently!!!!

And yes of course he says today he's happy about it (probably it's not even a bad deal). But main point is... this is a 100% decision of the club, forced up onto a player because of a change of plans on the last minute.

Again, nobody has to believe me on this if you don't want to. Everyone is free to believe (and read) what he/she wants. You can blindly follow your most preferred newspaper, website, etc. and have an exciting life full of adventure and sudden plot twists .

On this case however... I trust sources a little closer to the protagonist!

[hjperdeath 2,226]

your sources are out of a James Bond movie?

[Atholy 1,293]

your sources are out of a James Bond movie?

I don't know about India HJ... but Belgium is such a small country that it isn't such a big deal to actually know players on your NT.

Furthermore we have a whole crew around this team (coaches, physiologists, pr managers, ...) and on top of that a whole bunch of people who work for our National Football association. It's almost a miracle if you don't know anyone in this group .

So no james bond... or bond girls unfortunately. Just people who are at the NT (players and staff).