#3 Romelu Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku joined Chelsea as the ‘big’ solution to their problems in front of goal. The striker was quick to draw comparisons with the club’s most successful striker, Didier Drogba mainly due to his stature and a brilliant eye for goal to go with his strength and prowess in the air. The Belgian joined Chelsea in 2011, aged 18, for a fee reported to be around £20m after impressing everyone at RSC Anderlecht.
Lukaku became a household name in Belgium when he was top scorer in the domestic league in the 2009-2010 season, aged 16. Chelsea manager Andres Vilas Boas was quick to pounce upon the striker and signed him up as a long-term replacement for Drogba. However, the Belgian did not manage to score a single competitive goal for Chelsea and was always down the pecking order with the likes of Drogba, Torres, Sturridge and Kalou preferred over him.
Lukaku impressed everyone in his loan spell at West Brom where he got regular playing time in the 2012-13 season. He made 35 league appearances and scored 17 goals that year including a hat trick in Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1,500th and final league game in charge of Manchester United. Chelsea sent him out on loan again in the next season and he followed up his great goal scoring form at Everton that earned him a permanent move to Goodison park in 2014-15.
The 23-year-old has managed to earn the plaudits ever since his arrival at Everton and has been one of the most consistent strikers in the league scoring over 20 goals across all competitions in the last two seasons. Lukaku has managed to score 7 goals, including a hattrick, and has registered 3 assists for Everton this season and has been linked with a few of Europe’s biggest clubs.
