A deal to take Romelu Lukaku from Everton back to Stamford Bridge looks to be edging closer, as Chelsea prepare to smash their club record transfer fee in order to bring back the Belgian.
Much has been said about the potential fee and whether or not a player of Lukaku’s ability commands the reported £65million price tag. In some people’s eyes, it’s a price worth paying, for some, he’s only worth a fraction of that.
In reality, the transfer fee is largely irrelevant. The new Premier League TV deal has seen the transfer market, quite literally, go mad this summer and spending among clubs is at an all time high.
Bournemouth have spent nearly £40million in only their second season in the top flight, Liverpool won’t accept anything less than a mouth-watering £32million for a misfiring Christian Benteke, who looks like he may end up at Crystal Palace or West Brom this summer.
West Ham forked out £20million to take Andre Ayew from Swansea, a player that arrived on a free transfer just 12 months ago. The money available to Premier League teams now is beyond mind boggling, and to everyone’s disadvantage, everyone knows how much money they’ve all got.
So if a league rival came in for your top striker, you’re going to sit there and demand top dollar for him because Everton know all too well that Chelsea have the resources to spend between £60-70million.
Chelsea would do no different if the roles were reversed and have done so other the years, selling the likes of David Luiz for £50million to Paris Saint-Germain and Ramires for £25million to the Chinese side, Jiangsu Suning. Both fantastic pieces of business from a financial point of view from the Blues.
Football fans need to re-learn what they think is value for money in the current market and if £20million can only get you Andre Ayew in this current market, or £32million for an out of form Benteke, £60million for a striker that has scored consistent Premier League goals over the last three seasons doesn’t sound too far-fetched, if you look at it that way.
Let’s not forget that even if a deal was to go through before the end of the transfer window, it terms of fee and importance, it’ll be massively overshadowed by the return of fellow Mino Raiola client, Paul Pogba to Manchester United for a reported £89million, a new record transfer fee.
The Blues forked out £32million for Belgian striker, Michy Batshuayi this summer and have straight away branded him as ‘one for the future’, despite being a fully fledged Belgian international. He may well be one for the future, a young talent that needs time to grow and mould into a new system that Antonio Conte wants him to play.
But if Chelsea are paying that amount of money for a player that is held in high regard but seen as one for the future, how much are they going to need to pay for a senior, international striker who they want to come in and slot straight into the starting XI?
Understandably, Chelsea fans will have their doubts about handing out that amount of cash for a striker, given the club’s questionable transfer history when it comes to forwards. £50million on Fernando Torres and £30million on Andriy Shevchenko spring to mind. However, the market has changed, drastically.
When Chelsea paid Liverpool £50million for Torres, it made everyone stop and take notice. It would be a transfer that would go on to change the way clubs spend their money.
Clubs now know they can demand what they want for a player. Chelsea famously only wanted to pay £40million for Torres but Liverpool dangled a carrot in front of the club and said he’s yours for £50million, so the club went ahead and paid it.
Back at that period, it wasn’t the norm for a club to shell out that much money, now, deals of that magnitude are happening left, right and centre.
Manchester City brought former Chelsea target, John Stones for £47.5million, plus former Blue, Kevin De Bruyne last season for a whopping £55million and it is slowly becoming the norm. The days of signing a player like Didier Drogba for just £24million (which was considered astronomical back in 2004) and for them go on to have the careers he did at the club are long gone.
So while there may be plenty of negatives around the deal that could potentially see Chelsea re-sign the player they sold for £28million just two seasons ago, there are plenty of reasons for Blues fans to be happy about the deal.
£65million or a figure within that region will be getting the club a player that wants to succeed at the club and has the drive and determination to do so. A proven goal scorer, over not just one season, or two, but three seasons.
