The Belgium international has taken to life back at Stamford Bridge with incredible ease as he aims to help inspire Chelsea to their first Premier League title since 2017
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Chelsea v Zenit: Match in pictures
While the overriding feeling among the Stamford Bridge faithful when Romelu Lukaku put pen to paper on a deal that would see him return to Chelsea was one of excitement, there were a few murmurs of discontent.
However, the man valued at just under £98million is wasting no time in proving his worth, playing like he must make amends after his first failed stint at the club.
A boyhood supporter who idolised Didier Drogba, Lukaku first joined Chelsea in 2011, it came as something of a surprise that last Saturday’s brace against Aston Villa were his first goals at Stamford Bridge.
Previously, both in blue and as an opposition player during his stints at Everton and Manchester United respectively, he had failed to notch.
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Image:
Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
What is perhaps less surprising, is how comfortable those two strikes against Aston Villa looked. No longer the young, promising prospect he was last time around, this Lukaku is every inch the modern, elite European forward, with a number of strings to his bow that make his so lethal in and around the penalty area.
Tuesday night’s Champions League clash against Zenit St Petersburg saw Lukaku show any doubters, providing there are any left, exactly why he was purchased from Inter Milan this summer: namely, that he’s the missing piece of Chelsea’s jigsaw.
In what was a hard fought contest between the Blues and their Russian counterparts, the 28-year-old striker proved to be the difference-maker, rising highest in the 68th minute to nod home and hand his side a 1-0 lead and a crucial set of three points as they bid to retain their Champions League crown.
If that game were to be played last season in the exact same setting minus Lukaku, one can’t help but feel Chelsea would have been there all night knocking on the door to no avail without an elite goalscorer.
Timo Werner was purchased last summer for less than half of what Chelsea paid for Lukaku a year later, but his debut season at Stamford Bridge would suggest those fees add up – £45m Werner notching just six Premier League goals last term.
How many goals will Lukaku score this season? Have your say here.
Lukaku has kept the German international out of the side for much of the opening exchanges this season, the Belgian leading Chelsea’s line in a manner the Blues haven’t seen since Diego Costa.
Since his second debut against Arsenal on the 22nd August, Lukaku has scored four goals in four games, including that outing at the Emirates in which he was simply too much for Mikel Arteta’s men to handle.
With a Champions League title already under his belt, Blues boss Thomas Tuchel knows Lukaku could provide the key to domestic success this term.
