Chelsea have completed the signing of “wunderkid” Romelu Lukaku from Anderlecht after a protracted period of almost a year, for a fee believed to be around €25 million.
Chelsea complete Romelu Lukaku signing
The Belgian star will be eligible to play for the Blues on Saturday’s match against West Bromwich Albion. It is reported that he will be wearing the No. 18 shirt for the London based club, which is also his age.
The young striker has been prolific for Anderlecht, scoring regularly and broke many records at the youth level, scoring at an average well over one goal per game. Lukaku also has been a regular for the Belgian national team since he was barely 17 years old.
Speaking to the club’s website on his arrival at Stamford Bridge, he said: “It’s a dream come true. I dreamed to play here since I was 10 years old, thinking about shaking hands with all those players like John Terry and Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, it’s amazing to arrive here in a big club with big ambition. It was just what I was searching for.
“It was a good experience to play in Belgium but I wanted to take a big step to join a big club and I said from day one that I wanted to go to Chelsea.
“To be here now is so good. There are guys with a lot of experience at international level and they [have] won everything, but I [have not], I don’t have the same feeling as them. I just want to win something so I am very hungry to start with these guys.”
Lukaku now joins an already elongated list of forwards on the Chelsea squad. Drogba, Torres, Anelka, Kalou, Sturridge, Malouda will now have one more player to fight for the spots up-front.
He added: “I understand there is a lot of pressure on the team but with the players that we have, so much experience and so much talent, and with a great boss also, you can see that we can be confident we can make a successful season.
Lukaku has often been compared to Chelsea main man Drogba, and also stated that the Ivorian was his idol. Both have the physical strength to hold off defenders and a bullish power to unleash lethal shots. He accepted that they had similar styles.
“We have similar playing styles, but I am also very fast. I want to learn off him how it is to play here at the Bridge and how to prepare for games,” he continued.
AVB can finally work with a few players whose age is lesser than his own, and the coach will hope that the new arrivals will bolster their performance, which lacked spark in the opening game against Stoke City, which ended in a disappointing goalless draw.
Tags: Anderlecht, Anelka, Chelsea, Drogba, EPL, Kalou, Malouda, Romelu Lukaku, Sturridge, Torres, West Bromwich Albion
