Signing Lukaku shows real ambition by Everton

Young striker Romelu Lukaku has completed a club-record £28million move to Everton from Chelsea

Last night Everton brought to an end the transfer saga of Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku, as the striker joined the Toffees from Chelsea for a fee in the region of £28million.

The fee is a club-record one for the men from Merseyside and shows that everybody connected with the club is highly ambitious.

The striker scored 15 Premier League goals on-loan with the Toffees last season and got six assists as well, as the Toffees finished a creditable fifth in the Premier League table.

Doubts

There had been doubts about the 21-year-olds future at Chelsea for a while.

The summer arrival of Diego Costa and return of former-legend Didier Drogba increased the doubts over the youngster’s future at the club.

Linked

Everton always looked in the picture to sign Lukaku, but the highly-rated star had also been linked with moves to Bundesliga club Wolfsburg and Italian giants Juventus. However, it seems that once Lukaku learnt that he had no future at Chelsea that he decided that a return to Goodison was the best move for him.

Potential

Lukaku is rated as one of most promising young strikers in the world game. He is physically strong, has pace and a superb heading ability. Lukaku has often been compared to Chelsea legend Didier Drogba in his style of play.

At 21-years-old Lukaku still has a lot of time to fulfil his immense potential and has already shown flashes of his immense ability both on-loan at West Brom and at Everton.

Raw

The former-Anderlecht youngster is still very raw though and has some flaws in his game. His work rate and first touch are probably the two biggest weaknesses of the striker’s game.

He has scored lots of goals in the English top-flight already with those flaws, so it is frightening to think how many he will get when he improves on those flaws.

Lukaku seems like an intelligent youngster, even if he does have a habit of talking too much in the media.

Most of his comments in the media have been regarding his future or his lack of opportunities at Chelsea, which is now in the past. Hopefully the striker can now concentrate on fulfilling his potential now that his future is sorted out and does not need to talk in the media so much.

Boss

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has a history of giving young players a chance and developing them. The Spaniard could be a key figure in helping the Belgium international fulfilling his potential. As Martinez showed last season he will not let the striker get complacent and will push the youngster to develop his talent.

Faith

Everton have shown tremendous faith Lukaku’s ability by paying such a big fee. Everton have not been big spenders in recent transfer windows, so Lukaku signing for such a big fee shows that the club believe in the youngster and also boss Martinez’s judgement on the young striker.

The signing of Lukaku will have used up most of the Toffees transfer kitty, so it obviously means that everybody at the club has faith in the strikers ability to produce the goods.

Close

Last season Everton were very close to making it to the Premier League top four and the Champions League. Romelu Lukaku was a major part of Everton’s campaign last season, as the Toffees picked-up an impressive 72 Premier League points.

In previous seasons that points total would have been enough to clinch a place in Europe’s elite competition, but competition was stiff last season.

It seems that Martinez, the players and the Everton board are determined to challenge for the top four once again next season. Their chances have greatly improved with the permanent signing of the powerful striker, as he will be the focal point of the Toffees strike-force next season.

Stronger

Some of the Toffees top seven rivals have strengthened and brought new bosses in, but Everton are stronger than last season. They have secured the permanent signings of both Lukaku and influential defensive midfielder Gareth Barry. The signing of Bosnia youngster Muhamed Besic could also be a shrewd one.

The only player they have lost from last season is mercurial winger Gerard Deulofeu, who returned to Barcelona after a season-long loan.

The returns from injury of the likes of Arouna Kone, Bryan Oviedo and Darron Gibson will give the Toffees real options next season.

Outsiders

Everton are still outsiders for the Champions League places next season at odds of 7/1. However, Lukaku seems to be at home at Everton and appreciates the work of the Toffees boss Roberto Martinez.

It seems that everybody at the club is pulling in the same direction and the future looks bright for Everton under the highly-rated Martinez. The signing of Lukaku proves that the club is now looking to challenge the top teams in the country once again and it is about time too.

Can Lukaku help Everton secure champions league football next season?