Should Lukaku be our first choice striker?

Chelsea is about to head to the United States for the second part of this year’s pre-season. Romelu Lukaku was one of the players who stood out and made strong performances (4 goals in 3 games) in the now ending Chelsea Asia Tour. The question: Should Lukaku be our first choice striker for next season? The young Belgian, 20 years of age, also impressed in a one-year spell at West Brom (17 goals in the Premier League, two more than Torres has for Chelsea in the PL since 2011). His talent is undeniable, so is he ready to be the number 1 at a big club at Chelsea with that pressure?
Lukaku already played 8 games in the Premier League in 2011-12 under AVB/RDM for Chelsea, but only with one start. It was very difficult for him to get game-time in his first year at Chelsea, a chaotic year (which ended in probably happiest), where Drogba and Torres fought for the number one spot while Lukaku was disregarded because of the pressure AVB and RDM got from Abramovich. His confidence was on a low, but that changed last year in his loan spell in the Midlands under former Chelsea assistant and player, Steve Clarke. The 17 goals he scored in the Premier League ended with a hattrick against Manchester United in Fergie’s last game and he became just the third player who scored a treble against Ferguson in the Premier League.
For me, Lukaku made a good impression in front of goal in pre-season, but there is still a lack of in game contribution. This could also have been influenced by the high number of lost balls in our attacking midfield that couldn’t provide Lukaku more balls against weak opponents. However, if he’s on the ball, Lukaku acts very calm and intelligent, different from him before he was loaned out to West Bromwich.
Jose Mourinho said we should not compare Lukaku with Didier Drogba (and he’s right), but a lot indicates that Lukaku will be his new scoring machine with a lot of strength, pace, size and coolness in front of the goal. Lukaku is a very confident young player who showed that he is hungry to play for Chelsea.
It is still a little bit too early to say that Lukaku should be our number one choice from just the Asia Tour, but he will one day not only be our main striker for several years, and I have no doubt that he’ll become a Chelsea legend. We saw good things in the Asia tour about the whole team, but we don’t need to overrate these performances (Malaysia or Singha All-Stars aren’t the strongest opponent to be fair). However, Lukaku to start isn’t unlikely at all if we keep our strikers as we have it now (Lukaku, Torres and Ba). The only thing what can keep Lukaku away from a starter is a new big name striker, by no meaning that the new striker would harm Lukaku’s development. I think it’s right to build up a player with Lukaku’s potential slow and patient without too much pressure.
I made four possible ‘models’ how our new striker options will look like next year:

1. Keep Lukaku, Torres and Ba for the next season and don’t buy any new striker (keep it how it is now)

1. Buy a big name striker (Rooney, Suarez etc.), keep Lukaku and sell either Ba or Torres

1. Buy 2 strikers (a big name and a decent one), keep Lukaku and sell both Ba and Torres

1. Keep Torres and Lukaku, but sell Ba and use Schürrle or Moses if both are injured/banned.

I’ve been talking a lot myself about the striker situation in this summer. In my opinion, 3 strikers is a good number of strikers, no more, no less. 2 strikers are a bit risky (we saw it last season when Sturridge was injured), while Islam Feruz is still a bit young. If we sign another striker, likely Rooney or Suarez, we need to get rid of either Ba or Torres after Lukaku’s stay is certain. I prefer to let go Torres, particularly because of his high wages. I’m not surprised if we keep it how it is right now, but I prefer the option to sign a big name striker and let go either Ba or Torres
Is Lukaku ready to be our number one choice? Who would your ideal striker be? And which of these ‘models’ would you choose?
Jonny (@jonny9fan)