Chelsea don’t need a new striker, Lukaku is the best young one in the world

Romelu Lukaku has been in fine form this season and remains to be seen if he will remain at West Bromwich Albion for another season or be given the chance at Chelsea. (Getty Images)

Yes, that’s the right in the world. Romelu Lukaku is the best young striker in the world, and he should have won the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Chelsea are being linked with any number of strikers, from Falcao to Robert Lewandowski but they already own a young man who has not only the potential but this season a proven ability to get goals, to supersede even these luminaries.

Lukaku is 19, he’s 6? 3, he’s quick, he’s bullishly strong and he has a rocket launcher attached to his left hip. If you could design and build a prototypical modern forward you would end up with something resembling Lukaku. The physicals are all there for him to be dominant in the modern game, which relies so much on pace, power and technique and he has shown that he can more than handle the ultra-competitive English Premier League as if he was a seven year veteran rather than a green rookie. The raw tools are there to compete, but what about his attacking output.

Well, this is where Lukaku’s performance looks extraordinary. This season in the Premier League at West Brom, Lukaku has been a bit of a rotation victim as Steve Clarke looked to ease him gently or based on tactical considerations. At the start of the season West Brom looked like a reasonable bet for a decent mid/lower mid table finish. Instead of that they have cruised up to 8th just ahead of the widely praised Swansea City. Now, they’ve got good players such as Claudio Yacob, Ben Foster and Jonas Olsson but it’s Lukaku who has provided the x factor. The something special to a decent but not fringe Europe team that they’ve become. Lukaku’s productivity is all the more amazing given this.

He has scored 14 goals and claimed 7 assists. His 14 goals are the 7th best total, tied with Rickie Lambert. His 7 assists are impressive for a pure striker and shows some roundness to his game. His 21 goal involvements puts him nicely in the top 20. This would be impressive for a 19-year-old that starts every game. But Lukaku doesn’t start every game. In fact, he’s made 14 appearances from the bench. 14. Keep that in mind. This means that he has played just 1727 minutes in the Premier League League, which is less than teammate Shane Long and near enough level with the likes of Jamie Mackie. It’s barely in the top 30 strikers.

This means that he is involved in a goal at a staggering rate of once every 82 minutes. In other words, every single game. Factoring out anomalous results there is only one player in the entire league who is more involved and that is Robin van Persie, every 75 minutes, who of course plays with a vastly superior supporting cast at United and also has the advantage of a significant number of assists from corners which he takes.

By comparison, this is how other attacking luminaries compare; Gareth Bale – every 94 minutes, Juan Mata – every 88 minutes, Luis Suarez – every 90 minutes, Carlos Tevez – every 90 minutes, Santi Cazorla – every 144 minutes.

Now, all of these are considered superior players and play for better teams. And yet Lukaku outdoes them all.

So how many goals would Lukaku have been involved with if he had played the same number of minutes as these starting players. It’s fair to say that elsewhere he would start every game but if we give him similar minutes to the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Christian Benteke, Aroune Kone then he would have roughly 2650 minutes. At his current rate he would have been involved in 32 goals. This means it is fair to say that if Romelu Lukaku has played a similar number of minutes to other starters he could conceivably have racked up 22 goals and 10 assists.

At Chelsea, Demba Ba and Fernano Torres have combined for a return of 9 goals and 9 assists. Comfortably in the shade of Lukaku’s actual return at West Brom and vastly less than his forecasted return based on his current production rates. What makes this stand out even more is the cast of players that Chelsea have behind the strikers. In Juan Mata, Eden Hazard & Oscar Chelsea have three players who have contributed 38 assists. Imagine if they were playing behind Lukaku. Just what would they be capable of?

The other question I would ask here is this; Imagine if Lukaku was a 19-year-old Englishman, how much would he be worth? Well, Wayne Rooney, who had incredible physical talent and potential, was signed by Manchester United in 2004 for £30m at 19,with 15 goals in 2 seasons. So Lukaku would be worth at least that and would be talked about as the next great hope of the English national team. Even aside from his nationality, we’re talking about a 19-year-old prototype striker who has already scored goals in the Premier League. What’s not to like?

Lukaku can only get better than his already outlandishly high standards given he is only 19 and the physical capability he possesses. So if he gets better himself and he plays with one of the most creative attacking trios in Europe buzzing around behind the future could be intensely bright for Chelsea.