Why Lukaku’s transfer instils an important lesson for Chelsea
Life moves fast in football. Opinions are flipped on a seemingly day-to-day basis. Across the entire landscape of the footballing business, strategies, player market trends and other performance-related narratives are only as valid as the team, and player’s most recent match.
When Chelsea signed Romelu Lukaku for a record fee of £97.5 million, few could have predicted the rollercoaster ride both the player and the club were about to embark on. With hefty price tags, come lofty expectations. And most would agree, the Lukaku experience for Chelsea didn’t live up to anyone’s standards.
Inter Milan are now set to sign him on loan, with his salary rounding up to just under £7 million and no obligation to buy.
It’s not just the eight goals that he scalped this season in the Premier League. Amongst all the Chelsea forwards, he was the one they entrusted the most, and the one who wanted to fight the least for the badge. Touted to be a leader, a man who was used to having defenders at his mercy, Lukaku was designed to be the centre-forward to take Thomas Tuchel’s men to the very top of the division.
It appeared a full circle for Lukaku, after having manufactured goals for all the clubs he played for, to finish his prime years as a courted centre-forward for his boyhood club – after 10 long years. Instead, it turned into the nadir of Chelsea’s otherwise illustrious history that comprises some world-class players on their roster.
The difference between style, system, and substance
Chelsea, predominantly, sport a chequered history when it comes to signing strikers. Ask the faithful as to who their best striker was since Didier Drogba, and the majority will point towards a certain Diego Costa. Now, Costa by no means will have the legacy such as a Romelu Lukaku or Radamel Falcao in terms of goals and longevity, but he matched the requirements at the time.
Jose Mourinho was backed to the fullest when the Blues snapped up Costa and his fellow tormentor-in-chief, Cesc Fabregas, in the same summer. The pair weaved their magic on all of Stamford Bridge combining for 15 goals in the Chelsea career, and also highlighted how buying into a system can yield favourable on field results.
Whilst the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid among other top teams have applied distinct yet effective formulas suited to their style, they’ve borne fruit on the biggest of stages.
Chelsea meanwhile have thrown their hands all around the market, compromising for what their system really requires. Lukaku’s touches in matches, or lack thereof, undermines that he may not have been the type of striker that fits Tuchel’s system. Perhaps, the German prefers more mobile forwards who put in a shift drifting in and out of channels to create spaces.
Lukaku’s quite the opposite. Although his runs inside the box are purely instinctive, he’s more of a striker that loves to build on counter-attacks, drift on to the right or hold-up play.
Different managers require different players that suit their system. Roman Abramovich bestrode the Chelsea system, often firing managers. It resulted in trophies, and a chunk of players adding to a cumulative, inorganic squad. Moving forward, Todd Boehly and co. must reduce this burden on the squad, for Tuchel to work with the players he truly believes in.
What a new beginning signals at Chelsea
Signs are, however, clear at Chelsea for what is to come. Marina Granovskaia is reportedly on her way out of the club, soon after Bruce Buck – chairman of Chelsea – resigned from his position. There will be a centralisation of power with Boehly, who’s believed to have majority of the say in transfers.
A wage structure that rewards long-serving players and academy products less than big-money signings needs to be fixed. On the other hand, one can expect formerly loaned out players to return to the club in the weeks to come as well.
Conor Gallagher tops the list of players that might break into Tuchel’s starting rotation. Billy Gilmour, Ethan Ampadu and Nathan Baxter could also factor into Chelsea’s plans for next season as well.
This new structure hopes to be the antidote to the previous hire-and-fire policy of the club. It finally looks like Tuchel will be allowed the freedom to assemble a team that fits his vision. And as brilliant a manager as he is, the former Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund coach needs reliable players.
Rightfully, finalising the details of Lukaku’s deal was the priority. Fair to say, the negotiations culminated in a win-win situation for both parties, as it’s reported that Inter Milan will be paying his entire salary.
This piece of business is just one of the many stumbling blocks Chelsea will have to navigate and hopefully learn from in the years to follow.
Why Armando Broja is part of this paradox
Armando Broja, 20, serves as the perfect example of Chelsea not letting ghosts of the past haunt them again. The Blues have a history of letting some of the current best in the business slip through the cracks over the last decade or so.
There are very few mistakes Tuchel has made in his career with Chelsea thus far. He’s probably one of the only modern-day coaches to have succeeded in aligning the support of all the fans. Tammy Abraham, arguably, could be labelled as one of them.
The 24-year-old, who’s Chelsea through and through, or rather was, almost scored twice as many goals as Lukaku this season. 27 goals across 53 appearances, after already having proven that he can score goals in the Premier League, exemplified his abilities as a world-class target man.
With West Ham now anticipated to table a £30 million bid for Broja, it should remind Chelsea that they need to focus on their roster as a whole, rather than diverting all their time and energy into a handful of highly paid personnel.
Broja proved his mettle as a 20 year old, scoring nine goals for Southampton across all competitions. With the right mould and support, the goals will follow as his ‘big chance’ conversion rate is an impressive 44% at this tender age.
The Albania international has all the makings of a sturdy, Costa-like centre-forward. He’s physical, not afraid to take on defenders and most importantly, he thinks like a striker. Broja’s always ready to pounce on loose ends.
Mason Mount, Reece James, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham are some reminders for Chelsea – if there are internal issues to be fixed, look no further than players in your own backyard.
Lukaku’s imminent move to Inter Milan must come across as a turning point to the hierarchy. His move didn’t quite round off the full circle that was romanticised by the fanbase prior to his return. The lessons for Chelsea, though, must.
-Akarshak Roy
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Vyacheslav Evdokimov. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.