Will Romelu Lukaku's Chelsea dream ever be realised?
Romelu Lukaku
It looked, at the outset, like an innocent school trip.
Stamford Bridge is certainly a very popular destination for football enthusiasts, and as the students from the Sint-Guido Instituut descended from their bus, the murmurs of excitement turned into gasps of awe.
And not just at the magnificent home of Chelsea FC.
A big, hulking beef of a man was posing in front of a picture of club legend Didier Drogba, and passers-by could be forgiven for thinking that the great man himself had descended to oblige the fans.
However, a closer inspection would show that this was a man with a physical presence even more imposing than that of Drogba’s.
You would be even more surprised to see that this giant was a part of the student group that was now being taken on the official tour of the stadium, as unlike his classmates in demeanor, as he was in his build.
And while they flitted in and out of the frame, Romelu Lukaku was the focus of all the attention.
His words reflected a man struggling to come to terms with emotions that seemed to surprise him, more than anything else.
The big, powerful jock could not take his eyes off the pitch – his desperation to one day play for Chelsea there for everyone to see.
And as his teacher (I assume it was a teacher) asks the young Lukaku to join the rest of the group, telling him he can come back later and dream all he wants, the big man says
“Dreaming? I’m not dreaming. I will play here someday, you’ll see….”
It was a beautiful video, and I remember laughing about it with my brother, taking a jab at Chelsea, joking that at least there’s one player out there who didn’t want to join Chelsea for the vodka-tinted money.
Fast forward to 2013, and the young man’s unshakable belief has yet to pay dividends.
He may have signed for Chelsea in the summer of 2011, but the boyhood dream has not quite panned out the way he would’ve wanted it to.
His debut season may have seen Chelsea lift their first Champions League crown, but the Belgian was disappointed with his lack of involvement in the team – refusing to hold the Cup, saying that he didn’t feel like a winner.
And while that was but a minor headline from that amazing night at the Allianz Arena, it showed Lukaku for who he was – a determined professional with his feet on the ground.
The following season saw the Belgian sent out on loan to West Bromwich Albion, and with a very impressive return of 17 goals, most felt that Lukaku had indeed paid his dues, and deserved his place in the big time.
The problem, of course, is that Lukaku holds dear in his heart a club that has no such allegiances.
Chelsea FC is a club that has found its place in the elite by virtue of the millions in Abramovich’s bank account.
And while the investment may well look like chump change to the oligarch, it has changed the footballing landscape as we knew it.
Traditionally, clubs rose to prominence over years and years of toil, improving steadily from the lessons that successive seasons taught them.
Chelsea took the Premier League by storm, running away with two successive titles before anyone could blink.
Their footballing philosophy is much the same – with preference being given to established stars who can make a telling difference right away.
And you cannot blame them – trying to compete with masters like Sir Alex and Wenger in the player development game is pointless.
So Chelsea put their trust in a man who was known for getting the job done.
A man who had claimed European club football’s biggest prize with a squad that fed off his own insurmountable belief.
Jose Mourinho
In fact, The Special One’s sense of self was certainly a big factor in his own team overcoming the inferiority complex that is sure to come from facing established names like Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.
In light of all this, Mourinho’s return, and Lukaku’s own exile to Chelsea, is not so out of character.
Granted, Lukaku did deserve better, but Mourinho was hardly ever likely to settle with a strike force that only had the names of Torres and Ba in addition to the Belgian’s.
Samuel Eto’o arrived, after Mourinho’s public pursuit of Wayne Rooney fizzled out into oblivion.
Lukaku himself may have considered staying at Chelsea even after Eto’o had signed.
But with the World Cup looming, the Belgian was right in not putting his faith in a manager and a club that would’ve put more faith in him had they purchased him for $40 million from Real Madrid in the last transfer window.
That is just the way Chelsea have come to operate, and one player is not going to change that.
The mistake to send Lukaku out on loan to Everton is not even the stupidest thing they have done all summer.
Apparently, there was a £25 million bid for Nemanja Matic too.
Yes, the same ex-Chelsea player who was offered to even the scales in the cash-plus-player deal for David Luiz not too long ago in 2011.
And the funny thing is, they need a manager like Mourinho at the helm – one who has a clear game-plan that revolves around signing proven names.
Lukaku is certainly a proven name now. And that can be seen by the way everyone is already on Mourinho’s back for not holding onto the Belgian – and we haven’t even got to Christmas yet.
Mourinho himself has lashed out at the taunts – claiming that everyone should ask Lukaku why he chose to move to Everton.
The answer to that is one everyone already knows – because Chelsea is what it is, and Mourinho is who Mourinho is.
Lukaku being who he is, he will probably return to Chelsea next summer and take his rightful place at the helm of their attack.
And Chelsea should consider themselves lucky for the chance to have the Belgian on board.
They worship legends like Terry and Lampard for their loyalty and heart, while Lukaku – who deserves a start on merit alone – is even contemplating making a permanent move away from the club of his dreams.
Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it…
In that summer of infinite promise when he held up the Blues jersey for the very first time, Romelu Lukaku would never have thought that it would all have turned out this way.