Chelsea bid for Romelu Lukaku

Last updated : 20 July 2011 By Daily Mail

As revealed by Sportsmail on Saturday, the Blues are deep in discussions over the ?18million-rated striker. It has now emerged that Chelsea have made an official offer to prise the 18-year-old away from Anderlecht.

Chelsea held talks with Anderlecht's top administrator last week over the deal and general manager Herman van Holsbeeck flew to London to try to agree a fee.

The new Drogba? Anderlecht and Belgium teenager Romelu Lukaku is wanted at Chelsea

Lukaku - tipped to become the next Didier Drogba - has already underlined his eagerness to play for his boyhood idols, who are now managed by Andre Villas-Boas.

Worryingly for the Stamford Bridge side, their former manager Jose Mourinho is a known admirer of Lukaku and may still launch a late bid to lure him to Real Madrid. Mourinho is trying to recruit as many as three forwards and could yet emerge as Chelsea's rivals for the Belgium forward.

Last month Lukaku filled in a questionnaire for a young fan, at a sponsor's event in the Flemish city Hasselt, and wrote that his dream was to be a Chelsea player. Now he appears to be on the verge of fulfilling his lifelong ambition, even if the Londoners face an anxious wait to discover whether they are successful.

Stiff competition: Fernando Torres is just one of several top-class strikers already on Chelsea's books

Lukaku would join Drogba, Fernando Torres, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou and Daniel Sturridge in the striking ranks at the Bridge.

Anelka has, however, vowed to fight for his place under new manager Andre Villas-Boas. With England Under 21 striker Sturridge back from an impressive loan spell at Bolton, Torres insisting he is ready to justify his ?50m price-tag and evergreen Drogba ready to go again - plus the possible arrival of Lukaku - there had been suggestions 32-year-old Anelka would be ready to leave and move to Major League Soccer in the United States.

However, the France striker, who broke through as a teenager at Arsenal in 1997/98, insists he still has plenty to offer as Chelsea prepare for their friendly against a Malaysia XI at the sold-out 84,000 Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

The old Drogba: Lukaku's arrival would also put pressure on veteran Ivory Coast striker Didier (right)

'I am still here and still very pleased to be with Chelsea. I like a challenge,' Anelka said. 'It is all part of the game and when you play at a club like Chelsea you have to be ready to meet the challenge from wherever it comes.

'Every single member of this squad will have to fight to play and I am ready to fight." Anelka welcomes the healthy competition and believes Torres, who took time to settle following his big-money January move from Liverpool, will come good.

'The problem last season was that Fernando was a new player and it is difficult when you come from another team and then play in a style you are not used to,' he said. 'Now he is getting used to how we perform he has scored one goal in pre-season already.

Fighting talk: Nicolas Anelka (second left) has vowed to fight for his place under new boss Andre Villas-Boas

'Fernando looked sharp and I think everything will be okay for him.'

Sturridge, meanwhile, is determined to make an impression on the new Blues manager, having netted eight league goals in 12 appearances for Bolton.

'I'm here training in pre-season and looking forward to the start of the new season, where I can show everybody what I am capable of doing,' he said. 'It is the same in every team around the world. Every striker has got to fight for their place and it is no different here.

'It doesn't matter whether you are a star or not a star, you have to show the manager what you are capable of doing. Every season is a new season.

'The past is the past, in my opinion, so everyone has got to fight for their place.'

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Source: Daily Mail

Source: Daily Mail