Chelsea have been strongly linked with Everton striker, and former Blue, Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian said this week that an agreement had been reached at another club in the Premier League meaning that his likely destination is now Stamford Bridge. His first spell in West London was frustrating and Lukaku couldn’t make it into the Chelsea side, so I look at the day he made his debut in a Chelsea shirt for the first time.
After impressing for Anderlecht in Belgium, Lukaku signed for his boyhood club, Chelsea, for around £17m in August 2011. The striker made his debut for the Blues at Stamford Bridge against Norwich for Andre Villas-Boas’s side. Lukaku came on as a sub, for Fernando Torres, just after Chelsea had gone ahead through a Frank Lampard penalty. Earlier in the match, Jose Bosingwa had given Chelsea the lead with a rare, wonder strike from the right-back before Norwich striker Grant Holt took advantage of a Henrique Hilario blunder to equalise for the Canaries in the second half.
Lukaku made his debut alongside new signing, Juan Mata, who scored deep into injury time to seal the victory for Chelsea. The Spaniard’s career at Chelsea sparked into life after presented with an opportunity after a loose ball fell to the former-Valencia man who tucked home, placing the ball in the far bottom corner, past John Ruddy.
Mata and Lukaku’s career really did head in two different directions after this point. Mata helped Chelsea winning their first ever Champions League title in Munich, playing a pivotal role in the run to the final while Lukaku can be seen in the background as Chelsea celebrated with the trophy on the pitch having not made the matchday squad. He also revealed after that he refused to hold the trophy as he didn’t feel like a winner.
Lukaku made his first start for the Blues in the League Cup at home to Fulham, he didn’t score and Chelsea ended up winning the game on penalties after a 0-0 draw. He was down the pecking order in the first team behind Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres and Daniel Sturridge and eventually found himself in the reserves. Finally, in May 2012, Lukaku made his first Premier League start and was man of the match as Chelsea beat Everton 2-1, providing an assist for John Terry’s goal. He went on to spend 2 seasons on loan and was eventually sold to Everton in the summer of 2014 to Everton.
So, that was the story of the start of Romelu Lukaku’s Chelsea career but have we seen the end of it?