Barclays Premier League Transfer\Gossip\News\ Match Vidoes ‎Fulham FC Official / Chelsea Football Club »»» Fulham favourites as Lukaku agent says Chelsea want London loan move A move to Fulham next season is on for Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku. ... Lukaku's agent admits Chelsea want him to join a London Premier League club on-loan. Christophe Henrotay said: "It is clear that, if Romelu's situation stays the same, we have to search for a solution. Chelsea want to loan him to another Premier League team, preferably one in London, so they can follow his evolution."
Can't see why we'd want to take him (and pay his wages) when we've got the Pog. Cover I suppose, but that's not likely to impress Chelsea - remember Kakuta ? Have only seen him when we played them in the Carling cup and he didn't impress.
Quite agree Cottager58. It sounds like his agent touting him around to other clubs more than anything. I'm not a fan of loaning young players from other PL clubs. Why help Chelsea develop their youngsters when we've got players of our own chomping at the bit for first team action? I think it sends out the wrong message to the development squad. Also, I know Chelsea have more resources than Fulham, but is their squad that strong that their reserves are so much better than the players we've already got? Kakuta would suggest not.
Disagree with everything said. Kakuta wasn't given much of a chance here and when he did actually get some playing time I thought he did quite well. I would have loved seeing both him and Gudjohnsen here this season. Kakuta wasn't given much time at Bolton either so I doubt Chelsea will hold that against us. People on here are talking like we have a plethora of quality strikers to choose from, we don't. We have Pog, AJ and Sa. That's it now that Trotta has gone out on loan. I for one would love to see him come here. As for the poster who claimed that it sends out the wrong message, do you think Bolton regretted taking Wilshire and Sturridge on loan over the past two seasons? If Lukaku would improve our current squad, which I think he would then I'm all for it.
You make some good points, Bandy, but the Bolton example also highlights the dangers of taking young loanees. I'm sure Bolton didn't regret Wilshire and Sturridge, but where are those two now? Playing regularly (well, Wilshire was before his mammoth injury) for their bigger parent clubs. Where are Bolton now? scraping along in a relegation dogfight. That's the danger that Fulhamish identifies - we get no long-term benefit from the move, then end up with a hole in the side if any of the loanees really makes an impact for us. I don't think we're allowed to sign someone who is attached to another club, as opposed to free agents, until the summer, even on loan. My understanding was that the Lukaku move would be for next season if it happened, not for the end of this season. In that case the fact that Trotta is currently on loan and we've only got Pog, AJ and Sa isn't necessarily relevant.
Definitely next season. I think Lukaku would need FIFA permission to play for another team this season, since he's appeared for Anderlecht and Chelsea. If AJ takes a pay cut, I wouldn't mind him in our team. He is still a decent player. But if he wants 2 years at the same wage or higher, he can jog on.
Captain, you use Bolton as an example as to how a team can decline after not having replaced the loan stars, what about Tottenham and Adebayor? Do you expect to see Tottenham battling it out for survival if they fail to keep hold of Ade? Bolton are struggling not because they failed to replace the loan signings, but replaced them poorly. Sturridge was replaced by David N'Gog. Say no more.
As a biased American, Bolton are deep in the relegation fight because Stuart Holden has been injured all year. He keeps Bolton's gears turning in the midfield when he's playing. Holdens just been super unlucky with major injuries. They're not as if he just twisted his knee, but Nigel De Jong broke his leg, then Johnny Evans came in late on a tackle and caught Holden's knee. If Bolton do in fact go down, you guys should make a bid for Holden to replace Murphy.
I'm in favour of loaning players to cover temporary gaps in the squad but in the long term we needed to focus on developing our players. I'm on Bandy with this. The problem with Bolton was that they were building around Sturridge which was wrong.
I won't lose any sleep if we don't sign him. If he stars for us next season, then he's not going to stay with us - he's going to go back to Chelsea. Then we're left to replace him. Like the Captain said - no long-term benefit. That said, he's a class act and I certainly wouldn't grumble if he joined us for a season. I would much rather see us look for a permanent solution. Loanees are only ever going to be a short-term fix.
I'd prefer to have permanent signings to loan deals unless we have late problems with injuries. I'd hope anyone we'd buy as a striker in the summer to be in front of Lukaku, so would he get the amount of playing time with us.