Azonto Epistle 33: Romelu Lukaku Deserves a Fair Hearing At Chelsea

ALeqM5g5JzdmrAIVSpi70aCLCKcugZ7pDAimageTwo years back, I wrote an article to criticise Romelu Lukaku of talking too much and challenged him to “put up or shut up”. Roll on 2 years from then, when he was yet to make a mark in the Premier League after featuring mostly for the Chelsea reserve side and the young Belgian has lived up to the challenge thrown at him. At a tender age of 21 years, Lukaku’s professional career goals make him one of the best young strikers in the world, which includes a goal king at Anderlecht at the age of 17 years with 15 goals in the 2009-2010 season. He followed that up after his debut season by bagging in a further 20 goals in the 2010-2011 season. Despite these outstanding feat by a teenager, it had to be brushed aside when he came to the Premier League as a Chelsea player. He had to carve a niche for himself once more in the arguable most competitive league in the world and after Andre Villas-Boas failed to utilise him in the first team, Lukaku had to settle for the youth team which he humbly did and there too scored a lot of goals. This article is not going to be about the profile of Lukaku but we need to understand and know the personality we are talking about or we have in our hands before we can proceed to make our personal opinions and judgements.

When Lukaku had his major season with a premier league side on loan at West Bromwich, we all attest to his success after scoring as many as 17 goals for the Hawthorns including a hatrick against Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United after coming on in the second half to leave a huge mark on the departing gaffer and the winners of the League title in that year. Perhaps that great performance by the boy impressed everyone in the world except Chelsea who sanctioned for his second loan spell with Everton despite none of our retained strikers, Fernando Torres, Demba Ba & Eto’o had the hunger, consistency and personality like Lukaku to spearhead our 4-2-3-1 formation. A season when none of the 3 strikers could command the first team spot as their own but was always about rotation due to lack of form or regular goal scoring either at our home ground (in the case of Torres as the manager attributed) or at away in the case of Eto’o. As for Demba Ba, he became useful only at the tail end of the season. Meanwhile, Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, Sergio Aguero and Eden Dzeko were consistent for their teams anytime they were available. At the blue half of the Merseyside, a certain Romelu Lukaku was diligently going about his duties by scoring 14 goals and making assists and creating other chances with his towering personality upfront, helping Everton qualify for a European competition position.

After conquering all our tittle rivals, it is an open secret that Chelsea lost the league only because of lack of a recognisable striker to steamroll victory against many of the mid table and relegation threatened sides. Jose couldn’t hide this when he was always talking about a lack of firepower in our attack including a secrete tape where Jose was dismissing all our strikers. Was this an admission of mistake by Jose when they approved of Lukaku’s loan request? It is said that the boy asked for it but we know if Jose believed in him he would have stopped it; so end of argument. We are not here to apportion blame, besides Jose would be the last person to blame since he takes every decision of the Club in our best interest. Lukaku went to Everton and his loan has been successful so kudos to everyone involved. It is time to bring him back to the club he signed for, a club he loves and a club he has said it time and again that he wants to represent.

Signing Diego Costa will help Lukaku and Chelsea to add the young Belgian to the former Atletico hitman as our second striker. Having a recognisable frontman like Costa will ease the fears and pressure on the manager to give Lukaku a chance in the team (if Jose still has doubts about Lukaku). To have Romelu Lukaku and Diego Costa is a huge upgrade of our striking force and better than the ones we had. I believe the club will take the prudent decision to offload Torres and Ba and give Costa and Lukaku a clean slate to make their mark. Torres has been with us for 3 seasons now, he is not growing younger and we have seen what he brings to the club. It is time we cut our losses, free our wage bill and let him go. If Samuel Eto’o who impressed more than Torres has been cut lose, it will be extremely unwise (if not foolish) to retain him and not give Costa the opportunity to make his mark. Torres has had his time, we let Drgoba go just to give him his chance and it is time to let him go to give a more ambitious duo of Costa and Lukaku a chance.

Lukaku has proven himself and Chelsea should never make the mistake of letting him go either on a loan or full transfer. His characteristics as a striker are rare to find all in one player, at his age of 21, what he needs is full confidence and assurance as Steve Clark and Roberto Martinez gave him and we will be having a world striker in our books for the next 15 years. Chelsea, please this time around Romelu Lukaku has earned himself a right to fair hearing in our team lets not make the mistake and natural injustice of denying him this right.

Chelsea family, your thoughts are welcome.

KTBFFH!

By Seth Aborah Adusei (Twitter @ sethaadusei)

LondonsFirst

21 thoughts on “Azonto Epistle 33: Romelu Lukaku Deserves a Fair Hearing At Chelsea

  1. Anonymous

    I think Lukaku has matured enough in field of play to wear blue uniform.Chelsea striking force that includes Diego,Torres and Lukaku is a good one.

  2. Clap! Clap!! Clap!!! Personally I know Romelu Lukaku is even better than Diego Costa and that will be seen if only Chelsea believes and give him the confidence by allowing him spear head the attack! Lukaku got nothing to prove after doing it at Westbrom and Everton! it’s just Chelsea as a club holding back on him and I’m wondering What the issue is really??? That’s exactly how we lost Robben, Sturridge and it seem like they’re just too carried away with big name signings to realise Romelu Lukaku is the next big striker in the Chelsea Strike force! If you have a striker scoring goals and making assists on loan to clubs with average players, is it not only normal that you give him a chance with above average quality players to really bring out the best in him? Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Fabregas, Matic, Sallah, Schurrle, Ramirez, Mikel.. Is Chelsea saying that with these players Lukaku won’t hit 25goals a season?! If he could do 17 and 14 with average team play! I think the Chelsea board have some questions that need answers!

    • You are straight on point mate. At his age, there is no better striker like him in the world. His power and pace his phenomenal. We saw a little of it against USA and I would be hugely surprised and gutted if we let such a diamond go away. Some fans say he talks, and it’s a sign of the confidence he has as a person. If we think that’s bad character to have then bring in Balotelli and you will realise Lukaku is a saint

    • Anonymous

      I’m 100% behind ur comment man..the Chelsea players behind the strikers are no joke and lukaku will be better then drogba himself if u throw him in there…..but then Chelsea is rich,they even want ibrahimovic I don’t know 4wat gud rzn…..lukaku comes home !!!

  3. Lukaku is an upgrade over Ba, Torres and Etoó. Right now we need to upgrade and add talent, and selling him would not work. There is no other young talent like him out there where we could buy and replace him. Simply stated, he’s going nowhere but back to CFC!!

  4. Richardobanky

    I wonder why this issue shld even b a debate we all have seen the lad and knw he is d future for CFC i wonder what Jose is waiting for.1 thing i discover about Jose is that he sees himself special and will alwayz want to do special tinz and b praise for it so he would want 2 b d 1 to take all d praise for d next DD in CFC so i really understand y he wouldn’t want to keep Lukaku.But honestly i want him to stay!!!.

  5. I think Lukaku deserves to be our second striker. I know he said somethings that are not cool, but he is only 21. He is better than our current lot (not Costa)..and Mou can work his magic on him. I will be gutted if we let him leave. I will be mad, livid and angry.

  6. Yh I agree with yu that lukaku shd be given a chance BUT he is not that great(at least not now). Lukaku did very well at west brom where he was the centrepoint of their attack. Every westbrom player was looking to get him on the ball. At everton, it was considerably less. Ppl like barkley and mirallas were looking to score themselves, that’s why he scored less goals despite playing and starting more matches than he did at west brom. NOW, at chelsea with all the midfielders wanting to break a goal scoring record; oscar, hazard, schurrle etc. He needs to work harder if he wants to be a hit at chelsea. That being said, I think our strikers for next season shd be torres, costa and lukaku. With that strikeforce, we shd be good.

  7. Its d same thing that happened with Belgium. No one was trying to look for him. And also, lukaku talks too much. Is he better than morata of real madrid?if he is better, by how much? Have yu ever hrd morata saying bad stuff about madrid or ancellotti. Over the past 2 years, how many games has morata played compared with lukaku. As much as I like him and want him to be our next drogba, If he is going to have a big mouth like zlatan or balotelli, he must be able to back it up like zlatan or balotelli.

    • Hahaha… Take it easy on the young lad, Miles

    • where I’m from (africa) a really man is that who speak up and never hide his feelings like a coward, so I expect u to respect the kid for speaking up. mou is no God that one should expect the kid to keep mute and stomach any rubbish thrown at him. that been said, I think he is better than your morata, but again, that is just my honest opinion. beside, the fact that morata hasn’t had much game time doesn’t make lukaku’s case justifiable. wish unto others what you will have them wish onto u, just try and put your self in his shoe . if you are over looked by others in your place of work and others who you are obviously better then gets the nod ahead of you tell me you will be happy and stomach your feelings like a coward. pls be honest with yourself if lukaku were to be your younger brother and you see him been treated this way would you still make this kind of comments as advice to him.. let’s face the fact, that kid is one hell of a talent he might have some bad gave like every normal player but his potentials are unquestionable, either you let him play or you let him go stop hating on the kid. forgive me for my long writeup.

  8. Lukaku is the best striker in the whole world in his age generation….the statistics proves it… and don’t forget he is a black man which means even @ age 36 he can be playing active club football for us like Drogba. Keeping him will be the wisest investment chelsea fc has ever done under the roman empire…. There is always the argument that both west brom and Everton are basically mid-table teams so their players play under no or less pressure compared to our players at the bridge. But as a second strlker behind a Costa who is in the form of his life, chelsea will have a complete mixture of Costa’s Aggressive Flair and Lukaku’s Solid Power.
    Next seaon should be…..(Costa/Lukaku/Torres or any new striker)

  9. Anonymous

    First of all we need to get rid of Torres.
    And I’m sure if Lukaku was on another team like arsenal or juventus, Mourinho would try to get him and spend at least 30 million.

  10. Ajayi Peter Oluwaseun

    Wish Lukaku stays. Mourinho doesn’t care though and he does not read our opinions.

  11. I can understand we are all thrilled by lukaku but look at him well. I think chelsea shd keep him and I can assure yu that mou is anything but not an idiot. He knows lukaku is good. If lukaku was at chelsea last season, how many starts wld he have. Maybe 10. But at everton, he played over 35 games so the loan was the best move that cld have happened. Getting rid of torres is easier said than done. No club is willing to give him the 180k he earns at chelsea. so to avoid waste, its best his contract runs out or it will be a repeat off the cardiff city bellamy manchester city deal where man city were paying bellamy’s wages even though he had been signed by cardiff. Let’s just see what mou does.

  12. Onyeka Emokam

    Lukaku is not the type of striker a club like Chelsea need to lead their front line,he has even lost his starting eleven in national team to young Origi,so pls ur Lukaku still have a lot to learn to be even third striker in Chelsea.

  13. Z young Origi is better than z Lukaku and Origi is going to be loaned out by Liverpool after signing him so loaning Lukaku by Chelsea last season is z best decision made by club. A player who is chosen next to Origi can’t lead Chelsea front line. He needs at least 3 or more yrs to compete with z strikers in blue team. Mour is z right man. Ba, Bamford r better than him. He has to show his quality in preseason. It is a player quality makes z coach to select z player in z team not any talk. If he hs z quality, he hs to show in field to his coach not by talking to media.

  14. @ sethadusie ur post was spot on and masterclas.u just cleard al my doubt about lukaku especialy wen younger origi nearly benchd him at d mundial.but 2 dose fans dat is sayin dat origi was better dan lukaku just because of world cup,den u can also be tempted 2 say dat de bryune was better dan hazard & james rodr better dan c.ronaldo.so going by lukakus stat,he should be given the nod 2 be our 2nd choice striker.
    <costatorres>ktbffh.

  15. Anonymous

    bravo,lukaku is d main man

  16. ismail azeez

    pls,Jose give this young lad the opportunity to prove himself

  17. Joshua wheto

    It is high time Jose give lukaku a chance for him to showcase his talent for chelsea

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