Sport360° view: Why Chelsea selling Lukaku could prove Costa-ly

Jon Turner 17:20 27/07/2014
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  • Goal machine: "Can anyone argue Lukaku doesn’t warrant a place in this Chelsea squad?"

    The Chelsea future of Romelu Lukaku looks to be decided following revelations from Everton that the Belgian striker will return to Goodison Park permanently this summer.

    “Hopefully things can be sorted out, I think he’s quite settled in his mind that he wants to come to Everton, and hopefully he’ll be pulling on our blue shirt again next term,” Everton’s Head of Recruitment Ian Atkins told talkSPORT.

    “Our loan signings all did brilliant for us last season. Gareth Barry has signed permanently now which is fantastic, and hopefully Lukaku will as well.”

    While undoubtedly fantastic news for Everton fans, their Chelsea counterparts will be frustrated at witnessing this immense talent depart without a fair crack to make his mark at Stamford Bridge.

    When Lukaku arrived at Chelsea in the summer of 2011, the comparisons with club legend Didier Drogba were immediate.

    Following his first successful loan spell at West Brom in the 2012/13 season, they were clear. A mightily impressive 17 goals in his maiden Premier League season confirmed Lukaku as one of the most exciting young forwards in Europe.

    A year later and another 15 league strikes for Everton, Lukaku’s stock was on the rise again and the 21-year-old is now considered a top-level striker, regardless of his age.

    With Jose Mourinho back in charge and the need for a genuine goal-scorer evident, Chelsea fans believed the time was right for Lukaku to shine for the Blues. Remember, this is a player in a similar mould to Mourinho’s “son”, Drogba – the player that fired Chelsea to unprecedented success.

    Surely, it was a foregone conclusion Lukaku would fit seamlessly into the Mourinho system and lead the line for the next decade?

    Instead, the Belgian is off to Everton following the arrival of Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid and the return of a 36-year-old Drogba, while the serially disappointing Fernando Torres continues to cling onto his squad number.

    Can anyone seriously argue that Lukaku doesn’t warrant a place in this Chelsea squad? That he isn’t – at the very least – the second-best forward option available to Mourinho?

    With Drogba’s best long behind him, Torres totally unrecognisable from the player that terrorised the Premier League in a Liverpool shirt, and Costa unproven in English football, Lukaku is by far Mourinho’s most effective Premier League forward.

    A section of the Chelsea faithful have their reservations about Costa – and not only for his ramshackle of a World Cup with Spain.

    While last season produced a stunning 35 goals to lead Atletico to an unlikely La Liga triumph, the Brazilian-born forward’s previous best tally was 12. Indeed, prior to last season, Costa had never been used as an out-and-out centre forward.

    Is he the man to fill the void Chelsea have failed to fill since Drogba’s glorious exit in 2012?

    While some are confident those concerns will be dispelled and Costa will prove a big success at Stamford Bridge, should the 26-year-old pick up a long-term injury or take time to adjust to his new team, are Drogba and Torres really viable options to lead Chelsea to the league title?

    A lack of firepower up-front ultimately cost the Blues last season, and it feels as though – with Lukaku heading out the door and Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba already gone – Chelsea have taken a step sideways in terms of forward quality.

    Bemoaning a lengthy injury list, one of Mourinho’s most famous quotes from his first spell at Chelsea was as follows:

    “It is omelettes and eggs. No eggs – no omelettes! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem.”

    With Mourinho on the verge of selling one of his class one eggs in Lukaku, he will hope his decision to put the rest in Costa’s basket does not backfire.


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