10 Shocking Chelsea Departures That Nobody Expected

7. Romelu Lukaku

For most players, if they have spent two seasons farmed out on loan prior to their permanent exit, one can€™t help but feel that they should have been able to see this coming. However, with Chelsea€™s forward line of Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto€™o and Demba Ba having summoned a paltry 19 league goals between them last term, while Romelu Lukaku once more flourished at another English club, adding 15 Everton goals to the 17 he scored the previous campaign for West Brom, one would have assumed he would feature in west London this season. Mourinho, however, would have other ideas, bringing in the £32 million-rated Athletico Madrid striker Diego Costa, Stamford Bridge hero Didier Drogba and QPR front-man Loic Remy, to completely revolutionise his front-line. Much to the disappointment of Chelsea supporters, Lukaku was not going to hang around to play second or third fiddle. A subsequent £28 million switch to Goodison Park was swiftly tied up.

''Romelu was always very clear with us with his mentality and his approach was not highly motivated to come to a competitive situation with Chelsea. He wanted to play for Chelsea but he clearly wanted to be first-choice striker but for a club of our dimension, it is very difficult to promise to a player.۪۪ - Jose Mourinho, July 2014.