Tactics and Transfers: Lukaku over Haaland is the right signing for Chelsea
Chelsea has ambitiously broken its transfer record for Romelu Lukaku instead of Erling Haaland and it’s the right choice for the club. There is a significant difference between the £97 million fee and the £13 million a year salary that Chelsea agreed with the Belgian and the £150 million and roughly £26 million a year salary that Erling Haaland and his team wanted. The Blues’ real victory here is one of principle.
For years, they have decided not to work with Mino Raiola or his clients. I am a big fan of Raiola and the fact that he always wins negotiations on the behalf of his clients. However, Chelsea has always felt that he would destabilize the team or at least risk doing so, which is really the same thing. When you sign a Raiola client, you cede at least some of the control of your promotion, marketing and negotiating strength to the super agent.
More from Chelsea FC Transfer Rumours
- Shocking transfer news as Chelsea open to selling star player Reece James
- The real reason why Chelsea’s Ian Maatsen rejected Burnley
- Chelsea’s agreement with Lukaku revealed as EPL club lurk
- Chelsea to spend £85m on two young stars as release clause activated
- Chelsea want to hijack Liverpool for a second signing
Chelsea made the right decision signing Romelu Lukaku as opposed to Erling Haaland.
Some clubs feel that’s fine as he almost only represents star players of a high quality. That said, the Blues have long felt that very sort of concession would be too much and they’ve shown an admirable constancy in their desire to stick to their principles on the subject. That’s an important thing to acknowledge in exactly why this deal is the one that is best for Chelsea.
Adding Haaland for such absurd fees and with the circus around him would have weakened Chelsea’s stance not only in the transfer market, but in terms of its internal practices. Having a kid not even old enough to drink in the United States as the top earner in the club—by double that of club legend and World Cup winner N’Golo Kante—would be a step too far. What message does that send? I’ve personally always felt that clubs shouldn’t even allowed new incoming players to be the top earner. If you’re running the risk of that then you should even re-sign another player for more just to show that above all else, you value legacy and time spent with the club. The most important thing at a club is stability and Chelsea’s decision to sign Lukaku over the young Norwegian superstar shows its acknowledgment of that fact.
What also matters in this case is that the Blues refused to be seen as a stepping stone. Chelsea is a super club now, it’s time to live in that world. If Haaland came to Stamford Bridge, it would only have been because no other clubs could afford him at the time, not because he wanted to. To upend the entire wage and financial structure of the club for a player who’s not even interested in staying there long term is the sort of begging and pathetic energy that super clubs don’t have. Look at Real Madrid: when it doesn’t like a deal with its own league, it sues La Liga. Juventus has long said if a player doesn’t want to be there then they’re free to leave. Paris Saint-Germain know no bounds anymore—that’s how Chelsea should feel.
Lukaku, on the other hand, comes to Chelsea with a point to prove. He has love for the club he supported as a boy when he idolized one of the clubs greatest ever legends in Didier Drogba. Doesn’t that just sound better? It should also be noted that Lukaku is a fantastic player! Let’s not forget that painfully obvious point.
He’s the sort of player that combines the sort of old classic No. 9s that people talk about not existing anymore with the intelligent build-up play that defines the modern game. He’s a 28-year-old Serie A champions who wrestled being the star of the division away from Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s Belgium’s top scorer in history and already has over 100 goals in the Premier League, where he has proven that no matter what side he plays for—be it West Brom, Everton or Manchester United—he is going to score goals. Even during his time at United where his play was less refined and his team less oriented toward him, he scored 20 goals a season.
He has also proven to be a fantastic strike partner. He had 11 assists last season when playing with Lautaro Martinez, the young Argentine striker. Timo Werner is the same sort of player as the Argentinian and in all frank honesty, Chelsea could be on the verge of something very similar.
He’s a tactical fit for Tuchel’s system as the Blues play a very similar style of play to Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan. The Blues have exactly the right players to fit in around them too. Besides the obvious benefit to Werner, plenty of other players will likely take the next step in their Chelsea careers by having such a complete focal point to play in and around. Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz and Mason Mount are all likely going to have more assists and more goals next season. There are only two defenders in the Premier League (as of publishing) who can inarguably offer competition to Lukaku, and his occupying them obviously leaves the rest of the Blues knife-like attacking weapons time to threaten perilously.
Finally, the Blues don’t need more youth players. As a card-carrying member of the “play the yoof” brigade, I understand people’s feelings on the issue, but the truth is Chelsea has played them. Mount and Reece James will likely pass their 100th cap for the Blues early this season. Callum Hudson-Odoi seems primed for a big year, as well. Plenty of youth minutes have happened. Of the youth players who have left, most of them have been held up by other youth players, not experienced stars.
Chelsea doesn’t need more young players, it has enough, it needs balance. An accomplished player in his prime whose goal is to prove himself at Stamford Bridge is the perfect addition. Too many youth players and they don’t develop correctly. Too few and your team is too old and lacks the boldness of youth and frankly the resilience to put in the hard miles that this year’s 60-match season will cost.
The squad’s balance will be the thing that helps the Blues possibly win the Premier League and repeat as Champions League winners this season. They have experience in Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Kante. They also have youth in James, Mount and Hudson-Odoi. Now, they have players in the middle of their primes like Antonio Rudiger, Edouard Mendy, Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic and now Lukaku. It is the right balance for Chelsea to win things this year and that’s what matters.
Next. Chelsea has a good week to sort itself out for the new season. dark
Lukaku is a win now signing and that’s who the Blues are. Chelsea doesn’t build sentimentally to maybe be good in a cute, lovable fashion in future; it builds to bash the door down and win today. Did you forget that? Lukaku is the perfect signing to do that and everyone should be overjoyed to have gotten him.