Former Chelsea player and assistant manager, Ray Wilkins feels that Romelu Lukaku would not get into the side if Diego Costa remains at the club.
If Chelsea were to move for Lukaku, Wilkins who was speaking on Sky Sports, as reported by the Metro, also warned that the transfer fee will be quite hefty.
He wouldn’t play in front of Costa would he. I wouldn’t put it past Chelsea to go back in for him. They’ll have to pay at least double what they sold him for [£28million] – probably £60m.
If Chelsea shell out such a sum there is a little chance that they would confine Lukaku to the bench for the second time in his career. As such Chelsea will be forced to change their system assuming that Costa remains at the club.
This should not prove a huge obstacle for Antonio Conte who has preferred to play with two strikers throughout his managerial career. In such a scenario, Pedro or Willian would likely be sacrificed and Eden Hazard would move centrally in front of Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante.
But Wilkins said that he does not view Costa and Lukaku as an ideal strike partnership.
If you look at Antonio Conte when he was at Juventus he had Fernando Llorente. He likes a big one [striker] and a couple of small ones.
Based on Wilkins’ comments, it seems he does not believe that Lukaku will be arriving unless Costa departs this summer. Whether Wilkins is correct or not, the Lukaku saga will surely be in the headlines for months too come.
