Official: Romelu Lukaku joining Everton

We've been left to speculate all summer on what the future held for Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku, and now we know for certain. The Belgian center forward will be joining Everton FC on a permanent basis according to the club, where he'll sign a new five-year deal.

CONFIRMED: @RomeluLukaku9 becomes our Club-record signing, arriving from Chelsea on a 5-year deal for a fee of £28million. #WelcomeHomeRom

— Everton (@Everton) July 30, 2014

Personally, I think this is a monumentally stupid thing for Chelsea to do, unless they are getting a significant amount of any future transfer fee. Lukaku was no better than second choice with the current Chelsea squad, but he was a U21, homegrown, and association-trained backup. That has a ton of value for a club like Chelsea, and given that the fee for Lukaku is nothing all that spectacular, he probably had more value to the Blues than those pounds will in the bank*.

*If we were to take those pounds and turn them into a young, homegrown midfielder currently playing in Italy, I'd be less upset

Regardless, best of luck to Lukaku at Everton, where I hope he routinely has huge games against our title rivals and terrible games against Chelsea.