The deep breath that we all got to take after the January transfer window slammed shut last Tuesday lasted about a day, maybe two, before Silly Season started spinning its neverending web of speculations and half-truths once again. And with none of the top six making any major moves last month — Manchester City did take delivery of Gabriel Jesus, but that had been agreed well before already — the upcoming summer transfer window is bound to be a doozy. The race of the arms! And legs. And the piles of cash.
For Chelsea, one of the big stories is bound to be at center forward, with many expecting Diego Costa to leave either for China or Spain (though Atlético Madrid chairman Enrique Cerezo did not sound his usual confident self when that topic was brought up recently) and the Blues spending huge on a replacement. The two early lead candidates for that job are Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku, but while Morata is supposedly not unsettled (yet), Lukaku recently trotted out a bit of the standard vagueness about his future at Everton.
“Time will tell [if I can achieve my ambitions at Everton]. At the minute I am just focused on this season. I want to help my team-mates achieve the Europa League spot and then we will see what’s going to happen in the summer.”
-Romelu Lukaku; source: Evening Standard
That last line could be referring to the contract extension that’s supposedly been in the works since last summer (when Everton put a £75m price tag Lukaku — i.e. fun off), or it could be referring to Lukaku coming back to Chelsea for some “unfinished business” or going elsewhere like, say, Manchester United.
Lukaku took over the goalscoring lead in the Premier League this weekend by notching no less than four (4!) against an Aké-less Bournemouth, so it’s hardly surprising that his name is making fresh waves in the rumor mill. But this rumor has also been around for so long (including yesterday’s spending spree prognostications) that it’s almost inevitable that it will happen one day.
Stay tuned.