Romelu Lukaku

[quickpassnmove 924]

If Everton want him, or he doesnt want to come back and fancies potential European football with them -we should slap on a £40m price tag.

Except he's not worth that much.

If Costa comes, we know already what will happen. Lukaku still does not have great balance and ball control with his back up against center backs.

[iseah100 5,612]

I've changed sides on this. I would love to see him be our ST. Why not? All our players are young; Salah-21, Hazard-23, Oscar-22, Schurrle-23 hell Willian is our oldest attacking player and he's only 25. Lukaku will be 21 by the start of next season, have 2 seasons of starting in the BPL and succeeding in it under his belt, not to mention he'll most likely play and start in the biggest games there are during the world cup since Bentenke is out. If we keep Eto and bring back Drogba we'll have guys who can mentor him and help mold him.

[dee25 1,044]

I find it very hard to believe that Lukaku would have requested a loan if he had been reassured by the playing staff that he and Eto'o would be the main striking options. I'm guessing the plan was to offload Ba and for Lukaku to be behind Torres & Eto'o in the pecking order. If that's true then I don't blame him for walking. Why should he accept being behind Torres? He's already gone out on loan, did well and now he should be 3rd choice?

Bringing in Eto'o as a stop gap was the right decision. Firstly, it's a low cost signing and secondly Eto'o brings a different skill set from all the other strikers. So it was a good decision to bring him in as a stop gap but after a successful loan spell at WBA, the club needed to have shown faith in Lukaku. There's no reason why our striking options this season couldn't have been Lukaku and Eto'o and I don't believe for a second that Lukaku would have had an issue with that.

[Fulham Broadway 16,920]

Except he's not worth that much.

If Costa comes, we know already what will happen. Lukaku still does not have great balance and ball control with his back up against center backs.

Yes, I agree I still don't think he's proper Chels. However, a player is worth what a club is prepared to pay. Jose still likes two for every position, so who's to say he couldnt be here with a top striker once we've offloaded the present charlatans ? I think its time we tried two up top anyway. Chelsea have a proud tradition of dynamic duos - Dixon/Speedie, Gudjohnsen/Hasselbaink, Hutch/Osgood etc.

[didierforever 7,349]

If we had any other manager i would be worried, Jose doesn't pick players on reputation (Drogba/Sheva), if Lukaku is on better form than Costa, Jose will select him.

precisely.

i mean jose has played schurlle upfront at OT and against PSG.

cant remember the last time etoo started an away match, and torres' price tag has had 0 influence on his team selection.

jose selects his team on merits.

[Jype 6,398]

I find it very hard to believe that Lukaku would have requested a loan if he had been reassured by the playing staff that he and Eto'o would be the main striking options. I'm guessing the plan was to offload Ba and for Lukaku to be behind Torres & Eto'o in the pecking order. If that's true then I don't blame him for walking. Why should he accept being behind Torres? He's already gone out on loan, did well and now he should be 3rd choice?

Bringing in Eto'o as a stop gap was the right decision. Firstly, it's a low cost signing and secondly Eto'o brings a different skill set from all the other strikers. So it was a good decision to bring him in as a stop gap but after a successful loan spell at WBA, the club needed to have shown faith in Lukaku. There's no reason why our striking options this season couldn't have been Lukaku and Eto'o and I don't believe for a second that Lukaku would have had an issue with that.

Maybe Jose, like any of the four managers before him, wanted to give Torres a chance to prove he's still got what it takes? Torres, like usual, has then done fuck all to convince anyone and it's been clear for a long time now that Mourinho is frustrated with him and would probably try someone else if only we had another option. Had Lukaku stayed he would eventually have gotten his chance and by now would most likely be permanently ahead of Torres in the pecking order but he showed his immaturity by doing something no one has ever succeeded in doing before, going head to head against Jose and wanting reassurances about the amount of playing time he would be getting under him. Thing is, Mourinho doesn't do reassurances. He wants all players to be fully committed to him and prove their worth in training and the ones that deserve it will get their chance but clearly Lukaku wasn't willing to fight for his place.

Wanting some stability at this point is of course very much understandable because Lukaku has already wasted one season stuck on the reserves at Chelsea and after all it is the World Cup year, but because he's still being heavily rumoured to be on his way out and Mourinho hasn't exactly been talking very highly of him I got a feeling he might have said or done something incredibly stupid to hurt his relationship with Jose in doing that. Over the last few years we have all seen Lukaku say some pretty dumb things in the media so I wouldn't put it past him to have said something rash to his manager as well.

Another thing to consider is maybe Jose's pissed at Lukaku for wanting to go out on loan so hastily. If Mourinho thinks we'd be in a better position in the title race had Lukaku stayed and gotten his much deserved chance as soon as it became clear Torres is still shit, he might hold that against him because his request to go out on loan came so late in the window leaving no time to even consider getting anyone else of his quality in. If Jose had already planned for a season with Lukaku but a couple of days before the deadline the kid throws a tantrum and for selfish reasons demands to go out on loan to secure guaranteed playing time, how can he ever really 100% trust the lad again? In this business, if the trust is gone there's no coming back.

[Henrique 9,133]

If we had any other manager i would be worried, Jose doesn't pick players on reputation (Drogba/Sheva), if Lukaku is on better form than Costa, Jose will select him.

Actually Mourinho tried really hard with Shevchenko, I remember he even said that Schevchenko was going to play until he scored a goal.

So, Mourinho is not really different from other managers in this aspect.

[Henrique 9,133]

Its all up to Lukaku. He still is 20 years old (at least thats his official age). Diego Costa is 25 years old. He must decide what is better for him. He can be the 2nd CF choice for some seasons, until he can be our 1st choice (he can even play alongside Diego Costa), or he can be the 1st choice for Everton and follow Heskey footsteps.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Lukaku will now be main striker for Belgium. He will show if he is ready or not. Im sure Jose wont take bad mentality and inexperience for our striker. He sure wants to have deadly striker next season. Besides I think its important to have some experience in the side, our whole attack is very young and inconsistent. But let Jose decide whats best...

If Lukaku isnt ready to wait for his chance at Chelsea, Im sure he wont stick for much longer. Jose wants his players to show all their trust in him and club. Lukaku's role next season has to be second striker. Hell, Bayern will keep Lewa and Mando probably, if Lukaku thinks he is bigger than the club, he can leave. I want our players to have some patience. After all Lukaku isnt some world class striker in his prime to demand starting role here. He is 20yo with two good seasons behind him and if he is actualy that good, he will push through and take first spot here eventualy. If he doesnt want to fight for the spot, he can leave.

[Weckerz 3,781]

Its all up to Lukaku. He still is 20 years old (at least thats his official age).

He's born and raised in Belgium, birth certificates don't get lost here like in 3rd world countries...

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

Its all up to Lukaku. He still is 20 years old (at least thats his official age). Diego Costa is 25 years old. He must decide what is better for him. He can be the 2nd CF choice for some seasons, until he can be our 1st choice (he can even play alongside Diego Costa), or he can be the 1st choice for Everton and follow Heskey footsteps.

Like you said it is really up to him. If he feels that he is better than our strikers (which is the case in my opinion) and that he should start and play regu;arly then he has to fight for it. He has to force Mourinho to respect his game and his qualities. It should not be hard for him judging on the competition he has. Also Jose is in a very stucky sitation regarding our offensive approach. I hardly think any manager will bench his best striker to play the expensive useless one. But the kid has got to fight and show character. Pre season should be enough for him to prove it in my opinion.

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

Its all up to Lukaku. He still is 20 years old (at least thats his official age).

He was born and raised in Antwerp, not in the Congo basin. He's 20.

[Baba 10]

Selling Lukaku would be such a waste. I know Mourinho wants the right mentality from his players but... He got so much quality.

And he hasn't got the right mentality why? Because he wants to play?

[duo11bluecl 207]

Actually Mourinho tried really hard with Shevchenko, I remember he even said that Schevchenko was going to play until he scored a goal.

So, Mourinho is not really different from other managers in this aspect.

Until it gets to the point where he just has to drop the player like Casillas

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

I'm fairly convinced he'll walk by now.

Many of you are calling him stupid, but he's smart enough to know he'll never be the first choice striker for Chelsea in the next few years. He'll take a small step back (I think he'll want to stay at Everton if it was up to him), keep scoring them goals and be bought by one of the top teams again when he's 24-25.

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

Until it gets to the point where he just has to drop the player like Casillas

Still not sure if Casillas really had to be dropped. At the end, it looked to me Mourinho was so tired of being at Real he was practically asking to get fired by kicking everyone's shins.

[quickpassnmove 924]

Let's see: Lukaku can return to Chelsea, play/train with D. Drogba, play with Eto'o and, again, play for his favorite boyhood club under Jose. I'm thinking he gets some time to prove himself at SB and he will come back. Forget the rumours. It's just going to be up to him to improve his play in front of opposition centre backs. Didier should coach him. If he still looks like he'd rather be playing RW after a period of time back with Chelsea, I'm thinking he either becomes a RW or he gets sold.

[Henrique 9,133]

He's born and raised in Belgium, birth certificates don't get lost here like in 3rd world countries...

Humm, there are fake countries in 1st world, why not fake birth certificates...