When Romelu Lukaku joined Chelsea from Anderlecht in 2011, hopes were high from the Belgian Youngster. He scored 15 goals for the Belgian Club and ended the season as club’s top scorer. Many tipped him as the future Didier Drogba. A huge fee of around £18million was paid by Chelsea. But Lukaku was never able to set in his new team.
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His disappointment started when he was not given the first team chance. Later in next season, the Belgian was loaned off to West Bromwich Albion for a season long deal.
Chelsea enjoyed a £10million profit on the sale of Romelu Lukaku to Everton.
Lukaku finally got regular playing time there and he made full use of it. He scored 17 goals and ended the season as Club’s top scorer. He outscored all the Chelsea’s strikers in that season. So when he returned to Chelsea side after quite an impressive display, in the start of 2013-14 season, it was thought that the Belgian would fit in a team that was quite in a need of good strikers. But after missing a decisive penalty against FC Bayern in UEFA Super Cup, he was once again sent out on loan, may be that was not the only reason.
Last season Lukaku scored 15 goals alone, while the Chelsea strikers managed 19 goals combined.
This time, his destination was Merseyside club Everton. Lukaku started his loan spell at Everton with a bang. He scored the winning goal against West Ham United on his debut. Once again, the striker was off and running. He showed what he can do if he gets a chance. He defeated the keeper 15 times last season. On one side when Jose Mourinho was lamenting on lack of strikers’ goals, Lukaku was scoring goals for fun.
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Romelu Lukaku in BPL 2013-14
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Games Played
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Goals
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Assists
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Shot Accuracy
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31
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15
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6
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62%
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Mourinho made £28million pounds on Lukaku transfer and signed Drogba for free. The Clever One!
But what was decisive there was Jose’s lack of confidence in Lukaku. Many people think Mourinho had made up his mind to sell Lukaku after he deprived the ‘Special One’ from a trophy in UEFA Super Cup. Lukaku and Mourinho were never on the same page. The Belgian striker demanded a regular first team spot which Mourinho was reluctant to promise. In a recent interview, Mourinho expressed his feelings about the Belgian. He said,
“He (Lukaku) wanted to play for Chelsea, but clearly only as first-choice striker - and at a club of our dimension it’s very difficult to promise a player that status.”
“He (Lukaku) wanted to play for Chelsea, but clearly only as first-choice striker - and at a club of our dimension it’s very difficult to promise a player that status.”
So after Chelsea has resigned Drogba, their fans are now hoping that the decision of selling Lukaku shall not backfire. Otherwise the burden might be carried by a rebel in Diego Costa alone who is new to the Premier League and might take some time to adjust towards the Premier League.
Amir Bashir follow him on Twitter.
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