When Everton placed a bid of £28M for big Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku in the latest summer transfer window it was bittersweet for Chelsea fans. On the plus side they would get to see the 21-year-old beast every week in the Premier League, on the negative it would be in the blue of Merseyside. Signed in 2011 for £18M, Romelu Lukaku was still only teenager, but his impressive physical stature and knack for scoring a goal or two meant that he was one of the hottest commodities in European football. However another dominant striker sat above him in the pecking order and he found it difficult to de-throne Didier Drogba from his place on the team sheet. Lukaku's first season at Chelsea left him with disappointment at his level of involvement and upon winning the Champions League, refused to hold the trophy claiming he didn't feel like a winner. In his second year he was loaned out to West Brom and was impressive, scoring 17 goals. He continued to impress the following season, this time with Everton, netting 15 in 31 appearances. He proved he had what it takes to be a top goal scorer at the top-level, yet Chelsea and Jose Mourinho felt that he was not what was needed at Stamford Bridge. The arrival of Diego Costa, a similar striker from Atletico Madrid all but confirmed that Lukaku was not going to get the chance to show his ability and opted to leave for the sake of his career.
I’m a 23-year-old journalist having previously produced content for A Stamford Bridge Too Far, The Sun Newspaper and VincoSport. I currently write for Formula One Fancast and What Culture producing weekly blogs and features. I am a co-founder, writer and editor of Tibs News and am a big follower of football, Formula One and combat sports such as MMA, boxing and wrestling.
