Would you pay £24m for Lukaku?

[blue61]

We could debate the pros and cons of whether Lukaku is worth the money or not for ever. Personally, I'd just pay up and move on, he is/will be worth every penny. Trying to convince the doubters is like trying to talk a virgin into bed, just get the wallet out Kenwright and show some ambition for once.

 

[eternal_defiance]

It totally depends on how much money we have. If we have a projected £40-50m between now and January 2016 it would be foolish to dedicate £24m outright on him. I'd be happy to pay £12-14m within 6 months and try and offer a mix of sell-on %, goals bonus and CL qualification bonus to Chelsea. Overall I'd rate him at about £18-20m total right now. But I'd be happiest with a loan because Martinez will be able to find unknown gems for a lot less over the coming seasons. With everyone saying why does it matter to the media if we have quality loans, I find it strange a lot want to risk a massive amount on him when we are not a rich club.

 

[Brennan]

It totally depends on how much money we have. If we have a projected £40-50m between now and January 2016 it would be foolish to dedicate £24m outright on him. I'd be happy to pay £12-14m within 6 months and try and offer a mix of sell-on %, goals bonus and CL qualification bonus to Chelsea. Overall I'd rate him at about £18-20m total right now. But I'd be happiest with a loan because Martinez will be able to find unknown gems for a lot less over the coming seasons. With everyone saying why does it matter to the media if we have quality loans, I find it strange a lot want to risk a massive amount on him when we are not a rich club.

It's about as far away from a 'risk' as you can get. He's scored 15+ goals for the past two seasons at two different sides.

You're living in dreamland if you think Chelsea would accept £14m plus add ons or anything else. He's £20m minimum.

You don't have to be a 'rich club' to spend £20m on a player when the income of your club has just increased £30m+ a year.

Spend £24m on Lukaku and another £10m on a good midfielder, Barry for £2m (if true), and a couple of loans.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

I get that. And striker is obviously the position that needs sorting.

But we had this striker last season and didn't get in.

I'm not saying I don't want Rom, of course I do. But I also want some more boss players.

And what?

You can't have your cake and it eat it too, Ijjy...not with our board. You're being pyar Moyes here.

 

[Omarza]

Thing with all of those players is that they weren't blessed with the pure physicality that Lukaku has from an early age - they developed the ability to shrug off opponented and/or find space to work before their mid-20s. Lukaku has had a leg up with his strength, but the question is whether he's now plateaued because of a lack of technical potential.

We've seen him struggle for the entirety of 2014 for one reason or another and he's shown little sign of adapting his game to make a bigger impact, which is worrying.

But that is one of the reasons he will be a great player imo...he scored 15 league goals WHILE he was struggling...and there is very few strikers that fall in that department...

 

[eternal_defiance]

It's about as far away from a 'risk' as you can get. He's scored 15+ goals for the past two seasons at two different sides.

Torres? Scoring 65 in 102 apps for Liverpool and now struggling for 1 in 6 at Chelsea? Every signing is a risk. Lambert has done about as well as Lukaku in the last two full seasons and even if he was 21 I wouldn't want us spending £15m on him because of his overall talent and performances. Also I think I'm right in saying 4 of his goals came in one freak game at the end of the season vs Man Utd in SAF's last game when he was at WBA. I take your point but every signing is a risk, Martinez has said that, how a player could get injured and be out for a year straight away. I think Martinez will decide depending on his budget going forward and I still think Lukaku is open to another loan move which could suit us if no-one meets Chelsea's asking price. Kenwright did say he has friends at Chelsea so lets hope that's true and the two clubs can thrash something out. I do want us to sign him but I'm worried about the chunk of our budget it takes if we do.

 

[Brennan]

Thing with all of those players is that they weren't blessed with the pure physicality that Lukaku has from an early age - they developed the ability to shrug off opponented and/or find space to work before their mid-20s. Lukaku has had a leg up with his strength, but the question is whether he's now plateaued because of a lack of technical potential.

We've seen him struggle for the entirety of 2014 for one reason or another and he's shown little sign of adapting his game to make a bigger impact, which is worrying.

Guessing you watched a lot of Falcao for River Plate and Ibra for Malmo then.

 

[Brennan]

Torres? Scoring 65 in 102 apps for Liverpool and now struggling for 1 in 6 at Chelsea? Every signing is a risk. Lambert has done about as well as Lukaku in the last two full seasons and even if he was 21 I wouldn't want us spending £15m on him because of his overall talent and performances. I take your point but every signing is a risk, Martinez has said that, how a player could get injured and be out for a year straight away. I think Martinez will decide depending on his budget going forward and I still think Lukaku is open to another loan move which could suit us if no-one meets Chelsea's asking price. Kenwright did say he has friends at Chelsea so lets hope that's true and the two clubs can thrash something out. I do want us to sign him but I'm worried about the chunk of our budget it takes if we do.

That's a really, really daft comparison.

Torres lost his biggest asset as a result of injury, and everybody could see the player who went to Chelsea wasn't the same one who first signed for Liverpool.

 

[Tubey]

But that is one of the reasons he will be a great player imo...he scored 15 league goals WHILE he was struggling...and there is very few strikers that fall in that department...

He scored most of those goals in a counter attacking system in 2013, not 2014.

 

[Tubey]

Guessing you watched a lot of Falcao for River Plate and Ibra for Malmo then.

Not at all, but it's easy to see what type of players they are - they're chalk and cheese with Lukaku. Ibrahimovic is tall and languid, Falcao is compact and technical.

 

[Dithering Dougie]

He scored most of those goals in a counter attacking system in 2013, not 2014.

He scored 7 goals after Christmas so it was a pretty even split, he was also injured for something like 6 weeks. Not bad for a lad who was supposedly poor in the second half of the season.

 

[Brennan]

Not at all, but it's easy to see what type of players they are - they're chalk and cheese with Lukaku. Ibrahimovic is tall and languid, Falcao is compact and technical.

Insightful description there.

 

[Brennan]

He scored 7 goals after Christmas so it was a pretty even split, he was also injured for something like 6 weeks. Not bad for a lad who was supposedly poor in the second half of the season.

And that's ignoring the fact that most players don't score evenly throughout a season.

 

[eternal_defiance]

That's a really, really daft comparison.

Torres lost his biggest asset as a result of injury, and everybody could see the player who went to Chelsea wasn't the same one who first signed for Liverpool.

In his last season at Liverpool, after his injury he still managed 9 goals in 22 League starts, which is probably around Lukaku's strike rate. Anyway my wording 'risk' was probably unfortunate, my main point was the chunk of our budget it would leave for other signings both now and over the next 18 months. I don't want us to be in a position of having to sell a Stones or Barkley or McCarthy in the near future because we find an offer too tempting for that reason. I'd prefer a loan and for us to find potential world-class players ourselves at cheaper prices and I think Martinez is capable of that. Won't complain and hope we're in a position to outright sign Lukaku - but doubt that's realistic.

 

[Tubey]

He scored 7 goals after Christmas so it was a pretty even split, he was also injured for something like 6 weeks. Not bad for a lad who was supposedly poor in the second half of the season.

Fair point, what I meant but didn't communicate properly is that in 2014 he scored but was generally awful even when he did. Whereas when he first arrived he was causing chaos constantly even when not scoring.

The only game in 2014 I can remember him being a real handful in was against Arsenal.