Inter Milan boss Benitez forces Chelsea to bring forward Lukaku transfer plans
Submitted by tribalfootball.com on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 13:04
Chelsea face a major battle to see off competition for Anderlecht superkid Romelu Lukaku.
The Daily Mail says Inter Milan boss Rafa Benitez is plotting to scupper Chelsea’s patient pursuit of Belgium wonderkid Lukaku - the powerful 17-year-old striker dubbed the ‘New Drogba’.
With the Belgians denied a place in the Champions League group stage by Partizan Belgrade, Inter are ready to test the water in January.
Lukaka resembles Chelsea striker Didier Drogba both physically and in playing style. The 6ft 3in target man scored 15 goals in 33 league games last season, despite starting on the bench for 12 of his appearances.
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- Feb 12 Zambia take out first African Cup with win over star-studded Ivory Coast
- Feb 12 Drogba declares Chelsea decision will soon be made
- Feb 12 Ex-Liverpool boss Benitez insists Chelsea's Torres IS improving
- Feb 12 Chelsea boss AVB defends Torres performance in Everton defeat
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Comments (4)
What a glory-hunting FM-addict...
Romelu will come to Chelsea and just for your impertinence we'll have Philippe Coutinho.
Chelsea Transfer Manifesto: 2010/11, 2011/12
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Aim: Win as many trophies as possible and put the club on a strong footing to win many more throughout the rest of the decade. Particular aim of 2 UCL wins in the next five years.
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GK: Much talk about Asmir Begovic can't be great for Ross Turnbull's confidence, having said that he is clearly not up to being Chelsea's No.2 at this point, neither is Rhys Taylor or Matej Delač. The ideal solution is Igor Akinfeev, and he's available for a free transfer in January but his signing would also be the source of a few problems, he will require first team football, something which we cannot assure him of. A loan back to CSKA might help, but Cech is only 28, he will be our keeper for a while yet, Akinfeev will probably want to be settled at a top club sooner rather than later. David de Gea is another option, but the bottom line is we need a better second keeper for now, and a successor for Petr lined up.
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DEF: For backs we are obviously interested in Darijo Srna, who will probably come in on a free transfer next summer, and David Luiz, for whom's signature we will compete with the usual suspects, Manchester City, Real Madrid etc. We already have a reasonably strong contingent of young backs; Slobodan Rajković, Tomáš Kalas, Michael Mancienne, Jeffrey Bruma, Ryan Bertrand and Patrick van Anholt, who are either on loan or with the first team this year gaining some valuable experience.
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Both Juan Manuel Vargas and Fabio Coentrao need to be considered, despite Ashley's decision to stay with Chelsea this season he may look to Real Madrid again next season, and regardless Ashley is 30 in December and succession planning must occur, neither Betrand nor van Anholt offers the potent attacking abilities of Ashley, and hopefully Yuri Zhirkov may see more time as a left mid in future, a powerful attacking wingback like Vargas and Coentrao will be a must.
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On the right Bosingwa and probable signing Darijo Srna, who will both be 29 by mid season next year will be useful, but again succession for maturing players must be considered, though with Ivanovic and potential signing David Luiz's ability to play on the right it shouldn't be a huge concern. We tried unsuccessfully to sign Dani Alves in 2007, our 2012 attempt when he will be off contract with Barcelona should be more successful (with Bosingwa probably making way) however Alves will be 29 himself by then . OM's recent signing Spaniard Cesar Azpilicueta, 21, or Gregory van der Wiel, should be targeted as the young wing back for the right side.
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MID: We may still need to stiffen up our defensive midfield but we should wait and see how our current combination of Mikel, Essien and Ramires works. Anthony Annan, Steven Defour and Axel Witsel now the best options, but Nemanja Matić shouldn't be forgotten either.
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There has to be some longer term plans for the right wing. We have Jacopo Sala as a right mid but we will want to add at least one right winger to the team. There's the young Shaktar Donetsk pair of Alex Teixeira, 20 and Douglas Costa, 19. Teixeira was the star of the U 20 World Cup in Egypt in 2009, he's the kind of Brazilian that Carlo could mold into the next Kaka. Costa has been dubbed the next Ronaldinho. Linked up with Kakuta and Josh McEachran we would have a more creative midfield than Barcelona. Armenian star Henrikh Mkhitaryan is another option and also with Shaktar. Another great prospect is Deportivo's new signing Uruguayan winger Urreta, young, fast and very creative, everything we need.
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Speaking of whom, we should stalk particularly next season when Cesc returns and one of the Barca youngsters, Jonathan dos Santos or Thaigo Alcantara is suddenly pushed to the outer. The situation in Madrid regarding Kaka, who many believe will be pushed out by Ozil, should also be monitored. He may be past his best but Carlo will know how to get the best out of his old go to man.
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Diego Perotti, Sylvain Marveaux and Antoine Griezmann are all in play to back up Kakuta on the left once Malouda, now 30, moves on. We have Jacob Mellis and Josh McEachran as attacking mids, but with Alan Dzagoev, Nicolás Lodeiro, Eden Hazard, Philippe Coutinho and Christian Eriksen are the targets for that role and all possessing great talent, one of them may replace Mellis. Gervinho also has the potential to play in this position.
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FWD: For future strikers, there are several options, Moussa Dembele a highly talented and strong physical forward, who fits in well with our style of play. Though he is potentially outclassed by rising stars Romelu Lukaku and Lacina Traore any of those three would be good signings. Seydou Doumbia's move to CSKA moves him into the orbit of a club with which we enjoy good relations and Tomas Necid is already there.
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We need to come to a deal with Santos to seal up Neymar for the future.
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Romelu Lukaku is a must signing, but he needn't necessarily join the team yet, a loan back to Anderlecht would be ideal.
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Lacina Traore with his great height would make an ideal 'super sub' in the mold of Tore Andre Flo, tall and dangerous near goal.
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Moussa Dembele, Gervinho and Seydou Doumbia are all potential support strikers for a Chelsea after Anelka whom one of them could effectively replace.
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Drogba will be hard to replace Lukaku will still be too young to fully take over Didier's role when Drogba retires, Kalou will have to step up and another big name will be needed too, Torres is Roman's favourite, and another failure at Liverpool may bring him to Chelsea. However all that would accomplish is Chelsea funding Liverpool's resurgence and get us a deadly but brittle hit man. One of the younger hungrier trio of Pato, Sergio Aguero or Luis Suarez would be best, with Mario Balotelli the dark horseif he doesn't gel at Manchester City.
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We also have a few young forwards, Daniel Sturridge, who will probably not make it as a Chelsea player long term, Milan Lalkovič, who has a big future and Fabio Borini who also has great potential. In Marko Mitrović we bought the wrong young Swede, but we still have the opportunity to sign Rasmus Elm or Rasmus Jonsson in the near future. Of the English forwards, Danny Philliskirk looks the most likely. Giorgi Chanturia is at Vitesse with Delac and Rajkovic and may be with them at Chelsea soon too.
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Some have also been pushing for an Asian star for a while, namely either Park Chu Young or Keisuke Honda, either would be a great signing not just for Merchandising in Asia, but they are good players. Hamburg's Son Heung-Min looked rather good in the pre season game and may be worth a look too. Japan's new teen sensation Ryo Miyaichi has not yet signed for Arsenal, he's been dubbed the new Christiano Ronaldo and would also be an ideal signing.
Rafa, I tell you what...if you're listening [:D], two representatives, one from Inter and one from Chelsea, can go and ask him which club he wants to join and I can guarantee you 1010% that he'll say Chelsea, Chelsea, and Chelsea again! His idol is Drogba and he loves Chelsea. He'll join the club he supports and the club that he's been quoted as saying he wants to join - Chelsea. The only other club that could possibly tempt him to sign with them is Real Madrid because of Jose Mourinho, but I doubt that will happen. They haven't off-loaded Benzema so I guess they'll stick it out with him for a while before they decide to cash-in...Did someone say Man City? They have a settled, prolific striker in Higuain and have a wealth of attacking talent in midfield who can create opportunities for others as well as score themselves. With players Ozil, Khedira, Ronaldo, Canales, Leon, and Di Maria in their ranks they don't even need out-and-out strikers.
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