Romelu Lukaku is returning to Chelsea. It’s a story that should have happened years ago but the Blues are now signing one of the world’s best strikers regardless. Lukaku, a former Chelsea player, has unfinished business at the club. But who is he, and how did he leave the Blues at 21, nearly return at 24, only to finally return at 28?
History
There are four stories that really encapsulate Lukaku and his connection to Chelsea. The first comes when he was just a youth player at Anderlecht. On a tour at Stamford Bridge, Lukaku was heard saying “The day I’m playing here in this stadium, that will be the single time you would see my cry. I’m going to succeed.” Lukaku always knew he had what it takes to make it at a club like Chelsea.
After breaking through at Anderlecht, Chelsea signed Lukaku in 2011 for new manager Andre Villas-Boas. The Portuguese manager is often remembered for how he froze out the older players, but less remembered is he wasn’t all that great with young players either. Early in Villa-Boas’ tenure, Lukaku would vent his frustrations about the old guard always going first in a shooting game. It’s something that seems very innocent and probably was, but it shows that even at a young age Lukaku was unafraid to trust in his ability.
Chelsea would win the Champions League that same season but Lukaku wanted no part of it. In his mind, it wasn’t his achievement and he wouldn’t be wrong in thinking so. Many players do not care about the role they play when their team is lifting the Champions League, but Lukaku wouldn’t even touch the trophy. If his fingerprints were going to be on it, he would see that he put them there himself.
Lukaku would go on loan to West Brom and Everton in the following two seasons. He took the Premier League by storm in both years, only to see Jose Mourinho push the club for Diego Costa rather than trust Lukaku. The Belgian, always a believer in himself, submitted his transfer request to move to Everton permanently. There, he would continue to score for fun before the summer of 2017 arrived.
Which brings us to the fourth and final story that encapsulate Lukaku. That summer, Chelsea and Manchester United were fighting over the signings of Lukaku and Alvaro Morata. It was pretty clear each team would get one, but who went where was up in the air. That decision was made for Chelsea when United signed Lukaku.
It may seem strange that Lukaku, given his apparent love for the club, would sign for United. Ultimately, it came down to which club wanted him more. According to Lukaku, that was United from top to bottom.
His time at United went fine, ironically so long as Mourinho was there. Once Mourinho was sacked, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had little time for the Belgian striker. Meanwhile, Antonio Conte again sounded out his admiration for Lukaku. The two would finally link up at Inter Milan.
Which more or less brings the story up to date. Conte improved Lukaku massively, but Conte’s sudden departure from the team left Lukaku in the lurch. Lukaku was willing to stay, but as soon as Chelsea got serious about a transfer, his mind changed.
That’s all Lukaku in a nutshell. He’s a player that has immense belief in his own ability. Beyond that, he’s a player that wants to be wanted and he will be fiercely loyal to anyone that shows him the same. Thomas Tuchel supposedly contacted Lukaku ahead of the deal, right before it seemed a certainty. The Belgian is returning to the club with a point to prove and he will fight to make it happen.
But is he any good?
Yes, absolutely. Anyone saying otherwise has recency bias from his last year at Manchester United or has literally never watched Lukaku play in any other capacity. Even if someone is somehow unconvinced by Lukaku over his entire Premier League tenure, he has only improved since joining Inter Milan.
In 252 Premier League appearances, Lukaku has 113 goals and 42 assists. In Serie A, he has had 72 appearances with 47 goals and 12 assists. So, at the very least, Lukaku is good for a goal roughly every other game and an assist about one every five games. To further drive the point home, in five of his seven Premier League seasons he outscored every single Chelsea player during the same period. Only in 2014/2015 and 2018/2019 did Lukaku fall below a Chelsea player in the league.
Two things are commonly used to criticize Lukaku as a player: his touch and his record against big opponents. The first one is easy to dispel because it was practically a myth even in the Premier League. Once joining Inter Milan, however, Conte drilled Lukaku for months with his back to goal and on his first touch to teammates. He’s improved massively in that facet even if it was never really a weakness to begin with.
His record against big clubs is a true one but one that ultimately doesn’t matter. Ask yourself the type of team Chelsea struggles to score against in recent seasons. It’s not the top teams willing to come at the Blues. It’s the teams that pack it in and dare the Blues to break them down because they know most of the time Chelsea won’t be able to. That’s where Lukaku comes in. Chelsea’s issue isn’t scoring against the top teams, it’s scoring against the teams they should be scoring against. And that’s where Lukaku comes in, just like Diego Costa did when the same issue existed in 2014. It’s also an issue that has gone away in Serie A, so it’s not one worth worrying about from either side of the issue.
Simply put, Chelsea needed a goal scorer and they got one of the world’s best. There are concerns about the price for a 28 year old but Lukaku’s style is one that will age well. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see Lukaku play at his current level all the way up to 35 or later. He may not be around that long, but he can easily solve as many issues for as long as Erling Haaland would have.
Which brings us to the final consideration of who Lukaku is: what does this mean for a Haaland deal?
But what does this mean about Erling Haaland?
It’s going to be hard to separate the Lukaku saga, brief as it may be, from the overall Haaland saga. Chelsea had seemingly pursued Haaland for months only to turn back towards Lukaku. With Haaland’s release clause going active next summer and most of Europe sure to be in for him, there is a bit of opportunity cost to be had with the Lukaku deal.
Perhaps more than anything, fans need to ask themselves how realistic it is to pay Haaland’s 150 million transfer fee with another 50 million in agent fees after that. If someone thinks that is a price Chelsea was capable of paying or willing to pay, then yes this means Haaland isn’t happening. If someone things the Blues would never pay that price, then the situation doesn’t really change because everything simply shifts to next summer when Chelsea will be one of many trigging the buy clause.
Now, there is nothing to say Chelsea won’t trigger that buy clause next summer. Even if Chelsea doesn’t go two up top, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to have both Lukaku and Haaland. Perhaps more than anything else, fans are afraid Chelsea won’t win a race for Haaland when there are other competitors or they won’t have a spot for him to consider Chelsea a destination.
While all that makes sense on paper, the situation for Chelsea won’t really change from not paying his 150 million+50 million fee this summer. With or without Lukaku, Chelsea would just be one of many clubs after the Norwegian. Perhaps the advantage the Blues have is that they were the only club even willing to entertain the 200 million fee this summer, but Haaland will choose whichever club he thinks will be best for his career regardless. That could still be Chelsea just as much as it could be Barcelona (if they can make money appear out of thin air), Real Madrid (if they don’t get Kylian Mbappe), Manchester City (with or without Harry Kane), or even Manchester United (if they somehow make themselves look appealing within a year).
Basically the only thing that really changes for Chelsea overall is they have a superstar striker now and Haaland is about as likely next summer as he ever was. It’s kicking the can down the road while still solving the main issue for this year.
Overall, Lukaku is the megastar signing fans have been clamoring for since last season. He’s not the flashy signing that Haaland would have been, but he’s got a point to prove and he’ll score tons of goals in the process. This is an absolute win for Chelsea and sets the club up for a fantastic season.