Chelsea look set to soon announce the signing of Romelu Lukaku, who will be returning for his second spell at the club.
Lukaku and Blues fans will be looking for it to be second time lucky, but this time Lukaku returns as a different kind of beast, an experience and influential one with a lion’s mentality and strength. He left here as a boy, but returns as a man.
Please take a moment to check out my own Chelsea News website, bringing you the latest inside information, weekly Podcasts, and all your general Chelsea news. All FREE content, and FREE to subscribe here!
Lukaku wont only improve Chelsea instantly and bring them goals up top, he will also help improve and develop a number of other younger players in the squad, most noticeably, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz.
Havertz took a while to settle at Chelsea once he arrived, but he really grew into it and we started to see the best of him towards the end of the season, but Werner struggled a lot in front of goal at least, despite being a menace to defenders and a real invader of space.
Both players will enjoy having a player like Lukaku to play alongside, and more importantly, to play off of.
Lukaku is a world class all round striker, which means he isn’t just good on the ball and good in the box, he is also great at holding the ball up with his back to the goal, as so nicely put by Thomas Tuchel this morning.
This will help Werner get into space and use his pace to get in behind off Lukaku. He will be able to link up with him and feed off of his hold up play. Lukaku will also occupy defenders with his strength and movement, which will see extra space created for Werner to violate.
Perhaps one other big thing that people might not think of so much is Lukaku being the goal scorer he is, will take some of that responsibility away from Werner who might have been feeling the pressure to get goals last season.
And for Havertz, he will love linking up play with Lukaku. He will know that if he fires in a pass to Lukaku’s feet and goes for the return ball, Lukaku will not get bullied off the ball and be able to find the pass.
He will also enjoy playing off Lukaku like Werner will be, and again, as in the example above, defenders will be occupied by Lukaku’s movement, which will allow for Havertz to work his magic deeper and go under the radar a lot more.
Lukaku has it all about his game, but the final point is his influence, experience, and mentality – that will all be an absolute godsend to Werner, Havertz, and the rest of the younger players who will do well to learn from a striker who has pretty much seen it all and is a natural born winner.
