Chelsea can benefit by selling unsettled Lukaku
Chelsea’s young starlet Romelu Lukaku who has been termed as a highly talented youngster is considering his future with the West London club. However, Chelsea cannot guarantee regular first team football to the youngster who still needs time to develop into a full-fledged regular for a top club. Lukaku is desperate to play football after having a goal tally of more than 30 goals in two Premier League Season which the current Chelsea strikers have struggled to manage. But with Costa coming in, Lukaku will be relegated to the bench and his development is surely going to halt. So what is the best move for him and Chelsea?
A loan deal?
We know Lukaku can be a potential superstar in a few seasons and Chelsea won’t have any problems in finding a loan deal for him. But the Belgian has been irritated and unsettled with his parent club treating him in that manner. Arguably Lukaku believes that he can play for the first team on a regular basis, rotating with Costa and Torres, which is the popular belief. But that would mean his appearances would be very limited and his financial value would decrease.
If he comes to know about a loan deal, Lukaku may even hand a formal transfer request as he has been pretty vocal about his displeasure of moving on loan and not settling down.
The Liverpool Rumours
Fresh rumours are that Liverpool are interested in filling the void Suarez has left. Tweaking their formation and playing with 5 midfielders by including Markovic, would mean bending their philosophy of last year which gave them a great season. Lukaku has talent and Rodgers would not mind developing him, just like he did with Raheem Sterling.
Liverpool are a club that don’t mind using their young players of potential and in the process they are ready to accept the disadvantages that come along with an inexperienced player. Liverpool are Chelsea’s rivals for the title and have cash to burn, as Suarez was sold for a huge amount of money. Liverpool’s urge to add a marquee player as soon as possible would mean if Lukaku is who they want, they would be willing to shell out a few millions more the other transfer rivals.
The Final Verdict
Chelsea have somewhat always idealized getting top players into their squad rather than getting the young ones to become big stars. Lukaku is one who can still play in an ambitious team and perform, but he is not a goal machine of the category of Diego Costa. With all likelihood, Lukaku would get fewer chances and potentially lesser lucrative deals in the winter or next summer if he is not playing regularly. A loan deal is the best option for Chelsea but Lukaku’s unwillingness may force them to sell him. Maybe they would not like to sell to their newly formed direct rivals Liverpool who love playing with strikers and eventually finished above them last season.
But if Lukaku doesn’t want to remain in Chelsea playing a squad role for a couple of seasons and also not want to be loaned out, then Chelsea should look to sell him for the maximum money they get from non-rivals in or out of the Premier League. The Belgian can fetch close to 30 million pounds in an inflated market, something which can boost their finances for another player or for the next window.