Destroying every anti-Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea argument in one swoop
By Travis Tyler
He flopped in Premier League already!
Yes, this is a real thing people say. So, let’s play a game. In how many Premier League seasons did Lukaku fail to outscore every Chelsea player in the same year? And under what circumstances?
The answer is two. In seven Premier League seasons, Lukaku outscored every single Chelsea player in the league five times. He did this with West Brom, Everton, and Manchester United. The two years he failed to outscore Chelsea players were 2014/2015 (Chelsea won the league, Lukaku made his transfer to Everton permanent) and 2018/2019 (Eden Hazard had his career year and Lukaku struggled in a season that saw Mourinho sacked and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer not rate him).
To say a player who has scored over 100 goals and assisted nearly half as many more is a flop is just ridiculous. Few strikers can compete with Lukaku’s goal tally in the same time. And he’s only gotten better as a player in Serie A. So, yes, let Chelsea bring back a player who has already done it in the Premier League and let them do it better this time.
Related Story. Chelsea's transfer window thus far and what it means going forward. light
He costs too much! We should just spend that on Erling Haaland!
The main source of confusion here is Haaland’s price is often being shown in pounds (150 million) and Lukaku’s is often being shown in euros (if we say 120 million euros, it’s about 102 million pounds). So the prices aren’t nearly as close as some are making them out to be.
But, another important source of information is that Haaland’s price isn’t really 150 million. That’s just the transfer fee, which doesn’t include the nearly 50 million more it will cost in agent fees. And that’s likely being conservative.
Any deal will involve agent fees, but Lukaku’s agent is highly unlikely to charge as much as Mino Raiola. Worst case, Chelsea is likely considering 130 million versus 200 million.
Beyond that, Dortmund don’t want to sell even with a buy clause going active next summer. Haaland doesn’t want to force the issue. Inter Milan are tempted by the bid now and Lukaku is interested enough to consider the move. It’s better to go for the striker that will join than the one that won’t, especially with time running out in the window.
Might this mean Chelsea can’t get Haaland next summer? Probably but that doesn’t really change anything does it? If fans already thought it was this summer or bust, well it’s been bust for a while. The presence of Lukaku doesn’t change whether or not Haaland would join next summer if many already thought Chelsea had no chance.