Romelu Lukaku

[hjperdeath 2,226]

db

[robsblubot 3,595]

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 20,609]

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).

[Fernando 6,585]

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).

Cool, so I will take your knowledge as pretty good.

Tell me two things, is Lukaku now disappointed at Chelsea for the fail promises? Remember Mourinho told him he will play this season and such.....

And second does Chelsea get any compensation for the Lukaku loan?

Thanks.

[Atholy 1,293]

Cool, so I will take your knowledge as pretty good.

Tell me two things, is Lukaku now disappointed at Chelsea for the fail promises? Remember Mourinho told him he will play this season and such.....

And second does Chelsea get any compensation for the Lukaku loan?

Thanks.

Yes he was at first really disappointed and even a little angry because Chelsea failed to keep their promises!!

He was more than ready to compete with Torres, Ba & Eto'o for that first spot. He's very ambitious and eager to improve every aspect of his game. Mourinho gave him a lot of trust and it seemed to work out well. So yeah... Romelu really thought he was going to play for us this season and Mourinho would make him better every game.

Fact that Eto'o came and it didn't worked out to loan out Ba... changed all of this. Mourinho told him a loan would probably be a better option since he could play every single game... even as a starter. Something he cannot promise Romelu because of the competition.

Mourinho and Romelu are working on a very specific game plan for Lukaku. It's all part of a bigger plan to make Romelu a real top striker. They both agreed yesterday that with close coaching from Jose and assistants himself... Romelu could develop this plan at Everton too... and maybe even faster than with us.

This is why Romelu accepted this deal! He's not a dumb guy you know... in fact he's very smart! The little boy in him was angry and wanted to play for at all cost! The intelligent football player in him knows Everton is probably the best option.

I don't know anything about the compensation actually. This I cannot help you with.

[mediator 2,026]

I don't know anything about the compensation actually

I've read somewhere that it's something like 4m£ for the season long loan

[JDY 1,290]

http://www.toffeetalk.com/index.php?/topic/25114-romelu-lukaku/page-2

Quite a funny read from an Everton forum. Go from slating Kenwright to loving him yesterday

[bushman 2,043]

http://www.toffeetalk.com/index.php?/topic/25114-romelu-lukaku/page-2

Quite a funny read from an Everton forum. Go from slating Kenwright to loving him yesterday

Should we wonder why ? I mean Everton with Lukaku especially if he pops 15- 18 goals for them..who knows where they will end up ? Perhaps, 4th ?

[Fernando 6,585]

I've read somewhere that it's something like 4m£ for the season long loan

4 million is a great deal.

Plus Martinez is a very nice guy, I like him a lot.

I hope they have a good season and finish well with Lukaku improving.