Romelu Lukaku

[Reddish-Blue 2,355]

Can anyone honestly say that they think Jose would be happy with a player facing some adversity and then asking to leave the club? Is that what Frank should've done when Roman bought the club and we spent massively? Or did Frank work harder and score DOUBLE the number of goals the next season?

What worries me is that Lukaku saw Eto'o, Ba and Torres ahead of him and didn't back himself to overcome them. He instead went somewhere he was virtually guaranteed a start each week.

Does anyone seriously think that wouldn't raise red flags in Jose's mind?

Comparing anyone to Frank is a bit harsh. If all the youngsters had Frank's level of work ethic in the training ground, we wouldn't need to spend so much cash...

[The only place to be 11,313]

Well he might get a chance to prove that claim next season. We'll see. ;-)

Also, he was already better than Ba en Torres last season and this preseason, yet didn't get any real chances during the first month. Then Eto'o was bought. Every half-intelligent player would have left if there was a good opportunity.

It's very hard to just walk into a Jose team though. I know there were question marks over his fitness, just like there were with Schurrle, but I'm certain that if he had worked hard in training he would've got a shot.

Lukaku should've just looked at the players he was competing with, backed himself to displace them and knuckled down rather than asking for a move. Maybe it was a heat of the moment thing or maybe he was trying to force Jose's hand but whatever the motives, the end result is a lot of burned bridges.

Like I've said before, he needs Chelsea much more than Chelsea needs him.

Comparing anyone to Frank is a bit harsh. If all the youngsters had Frank's level of work ethic in the training ground, we wouldn't need to spend so much cash...

Agree totally, but I just think no-one is going to expect someone like Jose to take a request like that favourably. If you don't want to play for the club then Jose has no problems in letting you go, but I also don't think he forgets easily. He's got an ego and he can probably be a spiteful prick at times, but he's also a winner.

Lukaku could've learnt under one of the best managers in the world but instead his agent is discussing a move with a club who doesn't even have a manager....

Honestly, Lukaku needs better people advising him because the ones he has right now aren't doing a good job.

[Atholy 1,293]

Nope. I have never said we should buy Bony, what I have said along with Hernandez, Bony, Michu and players like that would be decent additions to the squad who would be willing to fight for a place because that is what they are doing at their current clubs. I also stated members could 'Insert the name here'

It's all hypothetical.

I really don't get the 'not willing to fight for his place' vibe.

If there is something Lukaku alway does... it is fight for his place!

BUT unless other complete fools... he also has brains. So he is also thinking about a good career plan.

A loan was always the best option for him (Torres, Ba AND recently bought Eto'o before him in the picking list).

I would sell Torres & Ba.

Keep Eto'o... Buy Costa (if realistic) & bring Lukaku back to the bridge!

He doens't feel 'to good' to start on the bench (like others are thinking here). I'm sure he will be more than happy to be the 2nd striker after Costa.

[mediator 2,026]

You are right, he already lost 1 full year rotting on the bench.

Ask Kalas what he thinks about about Lukaku's loan request...

[Stats 7,059]

Costa is available if he wants to leave, and let's not pretend that he isn't a better player than Lukaku - he is, but he's older so that's natural. Lukaku still needs to work a bit harder and that may come with time but he's certainly burnt bridges at this club with his attitude.

Maybe not, but Jose expects more from players. He wants them to want to be the best, to want to work harder than everyone else and not give up. It's why Azpilicueta has become one of his favourites this season. He worked unbelievably hard in training and then took his chances in the matches to the point where he's undroppable.

Can anyone honestly say that they think Jose would be happy with a player facing some adversity and then asking to leave the club? Is that what Frank should've done when Roman bought the club and we spent massively? Or did Frank work harder and score DOUBLE the number of goals the next season?

What worries me is that Lukaku saw Eto'o, Ba and Torres ahead of him and didn't back himself to overcome them. He instead went somewhere he was virtually guaranteed a start each week.

Does anyone seriously think that wouldn't raise red flags in Jose's mind?

Lukaku was willing to fight for his place initially but after being left out the line up for 4 games in a row despite scoring most of our goals in pre-season I think he saw what road it was going down. I don't think it was a simple case of him not willing to compete. I think Jose may of indicate he might not get as much starts as he wishes and due to being a world cup year etc, both manager and player probably agreed it will be best where he is starting every game rather than be a pit part player here as Jose obviously thought he had 3 capable strikers of doing the job, which proved wrong.

[Toli 977]

Isnt it kinda hypocritic to criticize a player for having the wrong attitude while he decided to leave to play REGULARLY and GET BETTER. you only get better while playing on the field and not in training. And Everton are a really good side to get better with Martinez.

Lukaku was completely left out at the beginning of the season, so its no wonder, that he thought he had no chance to get in there. we have a 50 m piece of garbage in our team, a new striker named Etoo who is a Mou favorite and also Ba. At best, Lukaku was our 3rd striker at the beginning and he didnt want to participate in 5-10 games in a season.

If we sell him its not for sporting reasons, its because of Mourinhos big ego. as soon as he falls out with somebody, there is no comeback for him. Even though I dont even understand why he has fallen out with Romelu

[Reddish-Blue 2,355]

Like I've said before, he needs Chelsea much more than Chelsea needs him.

Lukaku could've learnt under one of the best managers in the world but instead his agent is discussing a move with a club who doesn't even have a manager....

Honestly, Lukaku needs better people advising him because the ones he has right now aren't doing a good job.

He doesn't "need" Chelsea...if he chose to leave, there would definitely be alot of interest in his services

We have a 20 year old who has scored 29 goals in roughly 60 EPL games....yet just because he left the club to improve his skills and play reguarly in a world cup year, we're willing to sell him?

[Baba 10]

Small question. Do you think Chelsea will be champions this year? Would they be if they had Lukaku?

[Eligius 121]

Small question. Do you think Chelsea will be champions this year? Would they be if they had Lukaku?

Nope.....

Nope...

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Small question. Do you think Chelsea will be champions this year? Would they be if they had Lukaku?

Still possible. Did not think so when the season started.

Don't think it would have made much of a difference.

[The only place to be 11,313]

He doesn't "need" Chelsea...if he chose to leave, there would definitely be alot of interest in his services

We have a 20 year old who has scored 29 goals in roughly 60 EPL games....yet just because he left the club to improve his skills and play reguarly in a world cup year, we're willing to sell him?

The interest seems to be coming from teams like Everton and Spurs rather than the top clubs. Is Daniel Levy's judgment of players better than Mourinho's?

It's amazing how we criticise someone like Rooney who puts in a request to leave the club but defend Lukaku. This is a guy who said it was his dream to play for the club yet a few games left out (not unlike Schurrle and Azpi faced) and a bit of competition (weak competition at that) and he's asking to leave Chelsea Football Club???

Oh it's a world cup year. Well that's great. He's guaranteed himself at least 3 games at a world cup he's got an outside chance of winning.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

The interest seems to be coming from teams like Everton and Spurs rather than the top clubs. Is Daniel Levy's judgment of players better than Mourinho's?

It's amazing how we criticise someone like Rooney who puts in a request to leave the club but defend Lukaku. This is a guy who said it was his dream to play for the club yet a few games left out (not unlike Schurrle and Azpi faced) and a bit of competition (weak competition at that) and he's asking to leave Chelsea Football Club???

Oh it's a world cup year. Well that's great. He's guaranteed himself at least 3 games at a world cup he's got an outside chance of winning.

spot on.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Lukaku was willing to fight for his place initially but after being left out the line up for 4 games in a row despite scoring most of our goals in pre-season I think he saw what road it was going down. I don't think it was a simple case of him not willing to compete. I think Jose may of indicate he might not get as much starts as he wishes and due to being a world cup year etc, both manager and player probably agreed it will be best where he is starting every game rather than be a pit part player here as Jose obviously thought he had 3 capable strikers of doing the job, which proved wrong.

Against Hull he got 15 minutes.

Against Villa he got 25 minutes.

Against Man United we didn't start with a striker and Torres got 30 minutes coming on for De Bruyne.

Against some German team whose name escapes me, he got 22 minutes after coming on for Torres who scored for us.

United was a weird one because we didn't actually play with a striker and the German team was a glorified friendly so I might exclude them if that's ok.

So in the other two games he was actually getting more time on the pitch as the games went on, yet he decided that he had no chance of getting more than 5-10 games a season because Eto'o was signed? Fuck me, he was even trusted with a penalty in the shootout.

[Eligius 121]

I think he would work well under Moyes longball tactics and the amount of crosses United does...

Sell him to United for 30m.

I feel Tottenham will be a much better squad next season with the acquisition of Van Gaal and a few more players...

[Stats 7,059]

Against Hull he got 15 minutes.

Against Villa he got 25 minutes.

Against Man United we didn't start with a striker and Torres got 30 minutes coming on for De Bruyne.

Against some German team whose name escapes me, he got 22 minutes after coming on for Torres who scored for us.

United was a weird one because we didn't actually play with a striker and the German team was a glorified friendly so I might exclude them if that's ok.

So in the other two games he was actually getting more time on the pitch as the games went on, yet he decided that he had no chance of getting more than 5-10 games a season because Eto'o was signed? Fuck me, he was even trusted with a penalty in the shootout.

The thing is though if he could not get ahead of Ba and Torres initially who had done nothing to warrant a start and were shit then Jose brings Eto'o along it was pretty obvious he was going to get frustrated. Even as the season went on Jose probably would of realised he would of had to start him but he was not trusted ahead of the aforementioned two in the first place he probably thought there was no chance of playing when Eto'o came. The reason why I reckon Jose is equally to blame for Lukaku's departure because one he never started him in games where I believe he warranted a start and two, Lukaku said many times at the beginning of the season that he will fight for his spot but although it was pre-season, what else do you have to do show that he should of been in the starting line up in at least one of the four games? I can understand why he asked for a loan move. Pre-season was a platform to impress Jose and he did so him moving to Everton was probably his way to show Jose I am ready to be your no.1 striker.

[The only place to be 11,313]

The thing is though if he could not get ahead of Ba and Torres initially who had done nothing to warrant a start and were shit then Jose brings Eto'o along it was pretty obvious he was going to get frustrated. Even as the season went on Jose probably would of realised he would of had to start him but he was not trusted ahead of the aforementioned two in the first place he probably thought there was no chance of playing when Eto'o came. The reason why I reckon Jose is equally to blame for Lukaku's departure because one he never started him in games where I believe he warranted a start and two, Lukaku said many times at the beginning of the season that he will fight for his spot but although it was pre-season, what else do you have to do show that he should of been in the starting line up in at least one of the four games? I can understand why he asked for a loan move. Pre-season was a platform to impress Jose and he did so him moving to Everton was probably his way to show Jose I am ready to be your no.1 striker.

Pre-season is meaningless. It's about fitness more than anything else, but in the first few games Mourinho gave starts to Torres, Ba and then Eto'o. It's not unfair to think that Lukaku would've got starts as the Champions League started ramping up and we also had League Cup games coming.

Honestly, I just wish he'd never asked for the move because I think he would've been a massive player for us this season. I just don't think Mourinho is the type of guy you can ask for a transfer from and expect him to forget it. He places far too much stock in character and there's no way this isn't a red mark against your name.

It's just a shitty situation all round.

[Thendo 1,088]

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

This is a guy who said it was his dream to play for the club yet a few games left out (not unlike Schurrle and Azpi faced) and a bit of competition (weak competition at that) and he's asking to leave Chelsea Football Club???

A few games plus an entire season after he was first bought. I bet they promised him playing time then as well. ;-)