Lukaku is back to the Bridge. Bigger and Better.

Image courtesy of Getty Images.

Cc: Wilson Oluoch

They don’t call it the silly season for nothing and name a better transfer speculation than that of Chelsea’s striker pursuit that best backs this up.

Silly season because it is a period when most of the mass media focuses on trivial and frivolous matters due to the lack of major sports news stories to cover. With football players taking their holidays and lack of footballing action at club level, football faithfuls will do or say things that are not sensible or serious and it is this drive to look up rumors especially on transfer activity that media powerhouses and journalists will explore and feed off.

After a very successful transfer window in the summer of 2020 that saw Chelsea sign up six first team players to a tune of more than 200 million Euros, and the arrival of Thomas Tuchel who got Chelsea to 4th from 9th, came short in the FA Cup Final and shaking that loss off weeks later by beating PL Champions to bring “The Big Eared Trophy” back in the Stamford Bridge cabinets, all this in under six months, Chelsea fans were justifiably sure again this was the summer they flex their muscles and win the transfer window yet again. Well, to some fans, it happened, to others, it did not.

Erling Halaand has been the talk of all summer and it is easy to see why. 57 goals in 59 matches played for Borussia Dortmund is the reason why all footballing powerhouses want the 20-year-old Norwegian leading their lines. With Chelsea forwards performing subpar in the campaign just ended, and the financial backing of owner Roman Abramovich it is easy to see why Chelsea fans believed that they would be signing him up.

As a fan myself, I once belonged to the crop that wanted him at the Bridge so much that I read only what I wanted to believe but now having taken a step back, I laugh at myself because EH was not going to be signing with the European Champions like it happened in 2012. 

 

Image courtesy of Reddit

And this is everything I had earlier chosen not to believe …

Well firstly, yes, Chelsea had an interest in the player. (But so were everyone else)

The player himself was “very much open to a move to Chelsea” – if you are so desperate to see him sign, then this statement would surely have sounded like an “I want to join Chelsea” statement. But is it? Remember back when Halaand’s representatives made a trip to Spain to meet Barca and R. Madrid chiefs over the potential move of the player, and reports of scheduled meetings with both Manchester teams as well as a trip to London. As much as he was open to a move to Chelsea, Halaand was always open to a move anywhere else that offered a step-up from the levels at BVB, and they are plenty. Romelu Lukaku, reportedly, told Inter Milan that he would like them to accept a suitable offer from Chelsea for him despite earlier coming out public that he was comfortable in Italy and was going to work with new manager Inzaghi. Now that is what an “I want to join Chelsea” statement sounds like.

With confidence, communication was done between the business parties but it was nothing more than just preliminary and informal talks and propositions. No bid was ever made to BVB by Chelsea and hence none was ever rejected. Yes, and a million times Yes, Abramovich can afford such a transfer, but Chelsea Football Club remains a business. Issues such as maintaining the existent wage structure and the need to remain financially stable yet ethical must be addressed. If everyone was going to have a free run at the player once his release clause kicked in next summer, then why pay up to the tune of close to 200 million euros now. It just was not economically feasible.

Halaand might have been the dream signing, given his age and the potential of what a dominant young team we would have had for years, but the reality is that it was just not going to happen, or at least, it would take a crazy bid, a lot of time, patience and continuous back and forth for the obvious reasons of his super-agent Mino Raiola and the reluctance of Borussia Dortmund to lose players against their will and terms.

Chelsea (Marina Granovskaia, director at CFC) typically do their business late, under the radar and typically go aggressive once a first bid has been made. Reference the Lukaku transfer- followers of transfer insider, Fabrizio Romano can attest that in less than 48 hours he had reported the first declined bid for Lukaku (100 million euros including Marcos Alonso), a second proposal (in the regions of 120/130 million euros as well as Lukaku’s contract terms), Atalanta preparing to replace Duvan Zapata (who might join Inter) with Tammy Abraham and the report of Chelsea pushing to complete the deal as soon as possible. As much as it did not happen in the said 48 hours, it was always going to happen, a small matter of when and not if.  Much of the pending issues was that Chelsea wanted to include players in the deal while Inter Milan always preferred cash only. Also, one would sense that the hold up in releasing any positive information about the deal (especially from Italian media outlets) would be to protect Inter’s face, or to give them adequate time to find a replacement. Remember the board promised Inzaghi that Lukaku would not be sold and Fabrizio had already reported that Zapata would be signed as Lukaku’s replacement.

If you were in the Halaand train, too bad, sorry for time wasted but that is the silly season for you. Always an unpredictable spectacle of rumors, debates, and demands from the club and its fans. Also consider the financial impact of COVID-19 then you might begin to understand why the Halaand mega deal was always highly unlikely – not forgetting CB and MID targets are also still being pursued.

Does Lukaku’s previous association with Chelsea and the Premier League dim the light to this move among fans? Maybe. As much as he is not ‘as new’ a star as Halaand would be, Lukaku returns as a big-name arrival. Comparisons with the deals such as those of MUFC signing top targets and new stars in Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane, and MCFC acquiring Jack Grealish perhaps may be the contention here. However, we must understand that different clubs have different needs and it is those very needs that club officials address in the transfer window.

What Chelsea needed was a prolific goal scorer. And in Romelu Lukaku they are getting one.

SIDENOTE: CFC getting their top targets last summer, add that to the good number of players returning from their respective loans, add to that those who’ve been with the first team for quite some years and academy graduates under former boss, Frank Lampard and not forgetting Cobham (CFC Football Academy) boasts to be one of the best talent producing academies in the world, you will see why Tuchel himself was confident of going into the new season with the squad as it was. Chelsea has a squad in numbers and strength as well in those numbers. 

While Halaand was top of the list of striker targets, as per multiple reliable reports, like any other business, alternatives were always going to be looked at and name a better alternative than a player with 64 goals in 95 matches for The Nerazzurri and 113 PL goals to his name already plus 64 in 98 appearances for Belgium. It should not feel like he was a choice the club had to settle for. It should feel like the backing of a manager with a talent well capable of addressing the club’s current needs.

Lewandowski - 33, Cristiano Ronaldo – 36, Benzema – 34, Kane – 28, Luis Suarez – 34, Immobile – 31, Vardy – 34, and Aubameyang -32 just shows how the age narrative should not really come at play when criticizing the 115 million euro move for the 28-year-old (making him the club’s most expensive acquisition ever ahead of Kepa and Havertz). He has quite some good number of years in him and he loves Chelsea and actually wanted to join with Tuchel’s presence in the club seen as his motivation. For a man whose biggest idol was Didier Drogba, there should be nothing but positivity from the fans towards him.

The left-footed Belgian’s arguably comes back hungry and motivated, and he has played in the league before. His aggression in physical duels with defenders, speed, hold-up play and link-up play, running the channels as well as chance creation will come in handy for The Blues as they seek to continue their success story with Tuchel.

“…Lukaku comes as a king, but doesn’t want to be treated like a king, he wants to be treated as a team player…” Kristof Terreur – Belgian journalist who covers Belgian players in the PL.