Tuesday, 9 August 2011

Romelu Lukaku, the Real Deal?



With Romelu Lukaku set to join Chelsea pending a medical and contract agreement. I'm assessing his potential ability and how good he can be at Chelsea.
Lukaku, 18 years old, is already a full international for Belgium, and he's been tracked by many of the top European clubs for years after making his senior debut for Anderlecht at 16 years old. He has been quoted as saying he is a fan of Chelsea, and that Didier Drogba is a massive idol to him. This is his dream transfer  and I'm sure he will perform to his best abilities.

Lukaku is a massive guy for an 18 year old standing at 1.9m tall, and weighing in at 94kg. He says his physique is not the work of hours in the gym, but it is "a gift from God". He is extremely strong, with a suprising amount of pace for such a big guy. His positional awareness is brilliant and has put in the right place time and time again. His finishing is brilliant on his powerful left foot, but it can be lacking a bit on his right foot, but he has admitted he is going to work on this area as well as his heading ability, which should come easily for a guy of his height.

Lukaku is surprisingly mature for his age, and he has thought through his options carefully before choosing  where he is going in his career. He decided he would stay in Belgium for his schooling after Arsenal and Chelsea came looking for him when he was only 13. On a school trip to Stamford Bridge in 2010, Lukaku showed his immense desire to fufill his dreams in football when he was asked if he was dreaming about playing on the pitch, he turned round to say "I'm not dreaming, I'm going to play here". This just shows his incredible determination and desire to succeed.


As you can see from Lukaku's stats from the previous 3 and bit seasons, he has scored in his first 2 full seasons at a rate of about 0.45 goals per game, which is amazing considering he was 16 and 17 years old in those seasons. Clearly a star already in is home nation's league, the time was right for Romelu to move on, especially after the end of his studies in Belgium.

There were many options open to Romelu, with Real Madrid, Arsenal and Chelsea just a few of the clubs that were interested in him. Of course, Stamford Bridge would be his preferred destination but Lukaku wouldn't rule out all options. But at Chelsea, I feel he would flourish at his dream environment at the bridge, fulfilling his potential to the maximum.

At Chelsea Lukaku is a minority of the players in the fact that he has been supporting the club for years before he arrived. Expect more passion, drive and enthusiasm than most of the other players. And believe me, Lukaku will be one of Chelsea's greatest ever signings.

No comments:

Post a Comment