Thursday, August 12, 2021
New striker for Tuchel
Lukaku joins Chelsea for a record sum
Coach Thomas Tuchel’s team is paying a lot for their newcomer: Belgian Lukaku is moving from Inter Milan to Chelsea for 115 million euros. This means that Kai Havertz is no longer the most expensive player in the club’s history. Timo Werner also has competition.
Timo Werner faces strong competition in the attack at Chelsea. Belgian national soccer player Romelu Lukaku returns to the blues after eight years. The 28-year-old striker, who has already hunted goals for several clubs in the English Premier League, signed a five-year contract with the Champions League and Supercup winners until the summer of 2026. This was announced by coach Thomas Tuchel’s team.
Lukaku comes from the Italian champions Inter Milan. At the beginning of the week he had already completed a medical check in Milan and cleared the final formalities in London. It was initially unclear whether the newcomer could play for his old and new club in the home game against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Chelsea are paying Inter to receive £ 97.5million (around € 115million), according to consistent reports in British media. This makes Lukaku the most expensive player in the history of the London club and replaces Kai Havertz’s previous record transfer. The German international was signed in 2020 for 75.8 million pounds (about 90 million euros).
Lukaku is the second most expensive professional in the Premier League. The league record has recently been held by Jack Grealish, who had moved from Aston Villa to English champions Manchester City a week earlier for the equivalent of 118 million euros.
Lukaku was already under contract with Chelsea from 2011 to 2014, but did not prevail at Stamford Bridge at the time. In his first year he only made ten league games and remained goalless. In the 2012/13 season he was loaned to West Bromwich Albion, for which he scored 17 goals in 35 games, then to Everton, to which he finally moved. After four seasons at Everton (141 Premier League games / 68 goals) and two years at record champions Manchester United (66 games / 28 goals), the Belgian international moved to Inter Milan in 2019.
Lukaku won the Scudetto with Inter last season, replacing the long-time champions Juventus Turin in the Italian Serie A. Meanwhile, however, the club, run by the Chinese entrepreneur Steven Zhang, is plagued by money worries. After winning the title, the Chinese’s austerity program also led to the end of the collaboration with master coach Antonio Conte. Shortly afterwards, Lukaku also signaled his intention to change.
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