Romelu Lukaku Joins Everton After Another Jose Mourinho Snub

The seemingly eternal question of whether or not Jose Mourinho and Chelsea would retain the services of Romelu Lukaku is finally at its end. The talented 21-year-old striker was sent out on loan the previous two seasons, even after voicing his desire to stay with the London based side and prove his worth.  For yet another summer, the Portuguese skipper showed no signs that he wanted to retain the services of the talented young player.

The signing of Diego Costa for a whopping 54 million dollars, and the return of the Chelsea legend Didier Drogba on a free transfer all but insured a move away from Stamford Bridge for the youngster.  The deal is reportedly worth around 47 million dollars, and will see the six-foot-three striker stay with the Toffees, as he was on loan to Everton from Chelsea during the 2013/2014 seaason.  The signing of the powerful Belgian international is a record setting deal for the Merseyside based club, beating the 2008 signing of Maroune Fellaini who arrived from Standard Liege for 25 million dollars. Everton manager Roberto Marinez had been keen on retaining Lukaku after the goalscorer netted 15 Premier League goals for Everton during the 2013/2014 season.  The move to Everton makes total sense for Lukaku, who is already a fan and coach favorite.

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Fans of the Toffees will be in excellent spirits as the massive signing of Lukaku follows the re-signing of their young star Ross Barkley.  Barkely signed a four year extension that will see him continue to make plays and take on defenders at Goodison Park until 2018.  With plenty of other Premier League clubs clammering to attain the services of Barkley, his decision to stay with Everton has brought relief to their fans.  Barkley’s re-signing with the club was coupled with the news that 21-year-old Bosnia and Herzegovina midfielder, Muhamed Besic, had also joined the Everton midfield.  The highly touted dynamic midfielder/defender had a breakout 2014 World Cup and certainly has many Everton fans buzzing.

Target man Romelu Lukaku should enjoy plenty of success with his new club.  He showed plenty of promise with Everton during the 2013/2014 campaign and seemed to fit into the side quite well.  In fact, Lukaku has scored 32 league goals in the past two seasons with West Brom and Everton, a significant amount more than any player on Chelsea.  Surprisingly enough, Mourinho and his Chelsea side have been on the hunt for a prolific goal scorer for quite some time now, but Lukaku is not Mourniho’s answer to those problems. What more could Romelu Lukaku have done in the past two seasons on loan to prove his worth? The answer, not much.  At his current rate of goal scoring, Lukaku is set to be one of the best goal scorers in the Premiership in the coming seasons, and thanks to the antics of Mourinho and Chelsea, he will be wearing the blue of Everton.

Aug 10, 2013; Washington, DC, USA; Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku (center) celebrates with Chelsea midfielder Marco Van Ginkle (16) and midfielder Frank Lampard (8) after scoring a goal against AS Roma during the second half at RFK Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Paul Frederiksen-USA TODAY Sports

Does Jose Mourinho know something that we do not?  The big signing of Diego Costa may turn out like the most recent transfers Chelsea has made to find a goalscorer.  After the failures of Fernando Torres, Demba Ba and Samuel Eto’o, Costa will have to work hard to ensure he does not suffer the same fate. One statistic that Chelsea fans will not want to see in light of the Lukaku departure is this, Costa missed more clear cut chances on goal than any other striker in European soccer in 2013/2014 (stats via Opta Sports).  While Costa proved that he could get himself into scoring position time and time again, the statistics prove that he posted one of the worst finishing rates in Europe last year.  While Everton fans rejoice at the news of their big name signing with 32 league goals in the past two seasons, Chelsea fans can only sit and hope that Costa can translate his skills into the EPL.