Romelu Lukaku

[Puma]

Lukaku is shallow. He is all talk and only about appearances. He has very little substance. He cares what people think which is why he is so mentally fragile. As soon as he starts being criticised, hearing dissenting voices or the tide of opinion turns against him, his form and performances drop off. He is a plastic man perfectly suited to today's shallow and plastic world.

I do not think he necessarily understood how good he had at Inter and in Italy nor did he really value what he had. He was much loved by the club and respected by the supporters and never really faced any overly harsh criticism (Brehme aside).

Pastorello stated in an interview yesterday that Lukaku agonised over the decision to leave Inter. However, all I see is a player that jumped at the money and did not think about what may happen upon his return to the Premier League. Despite what Pastorello has said, Lukaku's decision to leave was short sighted. I am not sure how he is feeling about it now but I am glad we got the price we did and that we have moved on.

Regarding Hakimi, Inter had all Summer to sell him. Our management well and truly jumped the gun and sacrificed him for nothing. Talk about balancing the books before the end of the financial year was just an excuse. Afterall, what difference does 70 million make given all of Inter's Covid-19 impacted finances/debts?

In any event, there is little use in crying over spilled beer.

 

[Fitzy]

In any event, there is little use in crying over spilled beer.

Speak for yourself.

 

[Universe]

He was much loved by the club and respected by the supporters and never really faced any overly harsh criticism (Brehme aside).

HAHA

I agree with you regarding his mental fragility. I don't think the money was the main motivator though.

I think he was swayed by this romantic idea of returning home as the hero, all grown up. It's a classic story trope.

He's openly said many times that Chelsea is special to him as his first big club, the club where he was supposed to become the future star. I also think he wanted to return to the league which he left, considered by some, as having failed to live up to his potential, and prove them wrong.

I won't say that he didn't appreciate what he had at Inter - I just think this dream of a "triumphant return" to Chelsea was a stronger lure. The two can be true simultaneously. It was probably influenced by Conte leaving and the team's downsizing as well.

Ultimately, it's like a guy going back to his first love, or highschool sweetheart or whatever, purely for the romantic nostalgia and hope of reliving a youthful dream, despite being in a happy and settled relationship. Generally guys who do that end up regretting that shit.

 

[CafeCordoba]

Yeah I agree with @Universe

He made the mistake of announcing his love to Inter, calling it home etc. and then Chelsea came in for him.

Anyway, Pastorello's words shouldn't be taken literally "he's gonna return to Italy". He might return to Italy some day, after few years, after 5 years. No Italian club can afford Lukaku now. Not his salary, not the transfer fee. Marina won't sell him for cheap when spending 115m€ just last summer.

Juve is financially in trouble and there's no way they can sign Lukaku. If they sign Dybala, it's very unlikely they can sign another big salary player (unless they can dump a lot of salaries which is unlikely)

 

[brehme1989]

If he really wanted Chelsea, he would have gone there instead of Manchester United. It's all BS and for some reason everyone keeps buying it.
The guy feels "fake" and it strikes from the first moment. He ruined his potential due to his character. And everyone knows that his ceiling was very high, but he barely worked to improve himself.

As for Inter, it's nice to finally watch money not flushed in the toilet when you don't see strikers constantly miscalculating where the ball is in the air, losing it constantly either in bad controls or by opponents and making terrible off the ball runs. We're better off without him and it's not as if he was a catalyst for taking us to the next level or anything. Only Milan suffered a bit against him and once again the scoresheet doesn't really reflect the situation.

We would have scored less with the same amount of attempts thus far, only difference is that he'd be scoring most of them, as well as missing them, constantly demanding the ball and making other players, mostly midfielders, second guess themselves because they would get screamed at by the coach's pet if they didn't seek for him first.
And surprisingly we managed to make a profit out of him, so that's all there is to it on an individual, sporting point of view.
It's no surprise that players like Barella and Skriniar now say that they are "liberated". It's not just the coaching change, but the entire plan, and Lukaku getting all the credit for other people's work was the epicenter of it.


I don't think he'll be welcomed as an opponent if we end up playing Chelsea.

 

[.h.]

man, such a bad player, yet our best goalscorer in recent years. imagine if he was actually a good player.

 

[brehme1989]

man, such a bad player, yet our best goalscorer in recent years. imagine if he was actually a good player.

No one said bad. The term is frustrating.

 

[Campione]

HAHA

I agree with you regarding his mental fragility. I don't think the money was the main motivator though.

I think he was swayed by this romantic idea of returning home as the hero, all grown up. It's a classic story trope.

He's openly said many times that Chelsea is special to him as his first big club, the club where he was supposed to become the future star. I also think he wanted to return to the league which he left, considered by some, as having failed to live up to his potential, and prove them wrong.

I won't say that he didn't appreciate what he had at Inter - I just think this dream of a "triumphant return" to Chelsea was a stronger lure. The two can be true simultaneously. It was probably influenced by Conte leaving and the team's downsizing as well.

Ultimately, it's like a guy going back to his first love, or highschool sweetheart or whatever, purely for the romantic nostalgia and hope of reliving a youthful dream, despite being in a happy and settled relationship. Generally guys who do that end up regretting that shit.

For me the reasons to leave are like this:

1. No Conte here
2. Bigger salary at Chelsea
3. Bigger chance for trophies
4. "Chelsea fan since a child"

 

[.h.]

No one said bad. The term is frustrating.

for me, functionality matters more than form. yeah, he can be kinda frustrating to watch, but I'd stillt ake him over Dzeko or Lautaro personally. We're lacking a good striker at the moment, lets be honest. Dzeko has done alright, but I feel he's a level below Lukaku - which is fine, he was free, Lukaku is one of the most expensive strikers in history.


I think under Inzaghi, we could have seen the best of Lukaku as well as the best of Inzaghiball.

 

[RickyMaravilla'sRightFoot]

for me Lukaku is too big of a distraction. A very useful (but not world-class) forward?— sure, but he draws too much attention to himself and lets his emotions control him. I’m sure we’d love his counter-attacking viability against certain teams but 115mil is a lot of money and I don’t miss him.

 

[qb4ever_2k]

for me, functionality matters more than form. yeah, he can be kinda frustrating to watch, but I'd stillt ake him over Dzeko or Lautaro personally. We're lacking a good striker at the moment, lets be honest. Dzeko has done alright, but I feel he's a level below Lukaku - which is fine, he was free, Lukaku is one of the most expensive strikers in history.


I think under Inzaghi, we could have seen the best of Lukaku as well as the best of Inzaghiball.

Disagree about the last part. Lukaku is 28 and hasnt had any success playing possession based attacking football. He flourishes in direct systems where he can accelerate and bulldoze defenders with his strength and speed. He’s rather harmless when stationary.

We could be better with him, but the gameplan would need to be much different than it is now. And 115m for him was just too good. We would be better off with 115m than with Lukaku regardless. Thank you Chelsea, I guess.

 

[brehme1989]

We would be better off with 115m than with Lukaku regardless. Thank you Chelsea, I guess.

Imagine if we could actually use that 115m. And by subtracting Hakimi's 60-70m and adding 15m from Dumfries you have Hakimi + 60m to spend on top of everything else we have done.

Anyways.

 

[Candreva Crosses]

If he really wanted Chelsea, he would have gone there instead of Manchester United. It's all BS and for some reason everyone keeps buying it.
The guy feels "fake" and it strikes from the first moment. He ruined his potential due to his character. And everyone knows that his ceiling was very high, but he barely worked to improve himself.

As for Inter, it's nice to finally watch money not flushed in the toilet when you don't see strikers constantly miscalculating where the ball is in the air, losing it constantly either in bad controls or by opponents and making terrible off the ball runs. We're better off without him and it's not as if he was a catalyst for taking us to the next level or anything. Only Milan suffered a bit against him and once again the scoresheet doesn't really reflect the situation.

We would have scored less with the same amount of attempts thus far, only difference is that he'd be scoring most of them, as well as missing them, constantly demanding the ball and making other players, mostly midfielders, second guess themselves because they would get screamed at by the coach's pet if they didn't seek for him first.
And surprisingly we managed to make a profit out of him, so that's all there is to it on an individual, sporting point of view.
It's no surprise that players like Barella and Skriniar now say that they are "liberated". It's not just the coaching change, but the entire plan, and Lukaku getting all the credit for other people's work was the epicenter of it.


I don't think he'll be welcomed as an opponent if we end up playing Chelsea.

In what world was Lukaku getting all the credit?

 

[CafeCordoba]

If he really wanted Chelsea, he would have gone there instead of Manchester United. It's all BS and for some reason everyone keeps buying it.
The guy feels "fake" and it strikes from the first moment. He ruined his potential due to his character. And everyone knows that his ceiling was very high, but he barely worked to improve himself.

As for Inter, it's nice to finally watch money not flushed in the toilet when you don't see strikers constantly miscalculating where the ball is in the air, losing it constantly either in bad controls or by opponents and making terrible off the ball runs. We're better off without him and it's not as if he was a catalyst for taking us to the next level or anything. Only Milan suffered a bit against him and once again the scoresheet doesn't really reflect the situation.

We would have scored less with the same amount of attempts thus far, only difference is that he'd be scoring most of them, as well as missing them, constantly demanding the ball and making other players, mostly midfielders, second guess themselves because they would get screamed at by the coach's pet if they didn't seek for him first.
And surprisingly we managed to make a profit out of him, so that's all there is to it on an individual, sporting point of view.
It's no surprise that players like Barella and Skriniar now say that they are "liberated". It's not just the coaching change, but the entire plan, and Lukaku getting all the credit for other people's work was the epicenter of it.


I don't think he'll be welcomed as an opponent if we end up playing Chelsea.

He wanted to go to Chelsea but Raiola lured him to United as he couldn't find a deal with Chelsea and Everton. Then Lukaku fired Raiola after he realized he had made a mistake.

Anyway, I agree with the sentiment that it doesn't feel awful not to have Lukaku around. For ONCE we managed to make the sale at the right time, even though it wasn't club-driven. Making profit out of Lukaku acquisition was fantastic business tbh.

He definitely won't be welcomed, he ruined it himself.

 

[IM21]

he got the rona.

 

[brehme1989]

In what world was Lukaku getting all the credit?

Even to this day people spout the shittiest phrase ever said on this forum: "Lukaku carried us to the Scudetto".

 

[.h.]

Conteball carried us to to the scudetto, tbh.

I dont think we would have won it with Dzeko, in Conte's formation. Or even Lautaro/Icardi. Lukaku was the perfect striker for how Conte wanted to play us. (Fine, he could have a better shot/goal conversion rate, but thats literally universally true)

 

[Candreva Crosses]

Even to this day people spout the shittiest phrase ever said on this forum: "Lukaku carried us to the Scudetto".

I think its only in your brain mate. Its all about Conte, maybe you try to make it about Lukaku so you don't need to hear about Conte?

 

[brehme1989]

I think its only in your brain mate. Its all about Conte, maybe you try to make it about Lukaku so you don't need to hear about Conte?

You're probably one of those people who were saying that "Lukaku is carrying us" although I'm not sure when you're speaking your mind, trolling or just typing words whilst stoned so I'll omit your name from the list until further evidence.

 

[Puma]

The thing is, Lukaku needed the team to be at his service. Without his teammates, he would not have achieved anything. For that reason, saying he carried us to the Scudetto is a falacy. He was one of many contributors.