Potential Breakout Stars of 2013-14 Season Series - Romelu Lukaku

The next player that we look in our series is the young Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku. Although Lukakau had a great season with West Bromwich Albion last season, he would now be looking to take a step up in his career and hope to make a telling contribution in Chelsea’s bid to win the Premier league title this season.
Lukaku arrived in England at a young age of 18 from Belgium side Anderlecht in 2011. A huge transfer sum of £18 million was invested by Chelsea as they were eyeing a long term replacement for Didier Drogba. A number of clubs expressed their interest in getting him. However he decided to move to Stamford Bridge so that he could learn under the tutelage of his idol Didier Drogba.

In his first season at Chelsea,Lukaku failed to establish himself in the first team as he had to compete with the likes of Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba. He failed to score a single goal that season in his dozen appearances for the club. The next season Lukaku joined West Bromwich Albion on a season long loan deal so that he could get more first team action. This move proved to be the turning point in his career. Steve Clarke, the manager of West Bromwich Albion, utilized Lukaku to the best of his abilities which was reflected by his impressive tally of 17 goals in the Premier League and a hat-trick against Manchester United that denied Sir Alex Ferguson a win in his final game in charge.

With the return of Jose Mourinho to Chelsea, Lukaku could not have asked for a better club than Chelsea at this point in his career. In his first spell at Chelsea, Mourinho had bought Didier Drogba to add the physicality in Chelsea’s game. Drogba failed to impress in his first two seasons with the Blues. Drogba’s career looked almost over with the arrival of Andriy Shevchenko who was among the best strikers in the world at that time. But Jose Mourinho showed confidence in Drogba and he turned out to be their star player in 2006-07 season. A similar situation looks set for Lukaku - with the likes of Fernando Torres and Demba Ba already in the squad and the possible arrival of Wayne Rooney.Jose Mourinho would give Lukaku his opportunities. It would now be for him to grab it and make his mark in English football.