Ex-Leeds United and Manchester United player John Giles has revealed that Romelu Lukaku was not the first choice target for Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, as reported by the English media.
Many papers had linked forward Romelu Lukaku with a return to Stamford Bridge during the summer transfer window but the big Belgian opted to join Manchester United instead from Everton in a £75million deal.
It was common knowledge that Chelsea needed a new striker after Diego Costa’s exit looked certain and Lukaku seemed like the natural fit for the Blues before he eventually decided to join Manchester United.
Although Chelsea did sign Alvaro Morata, who himself is a very talented forward, many still regarded missing out on Lukaku to be a huge blow for the Blues due to lack of first team experience of the Spanish international.
The 24-year-old is an established star in the Premier League and would have probably been preferred by Chelsea manager Antonio Conte due to his experience in the division.
However, ex-Manchester United player Giles has now expressed a different opinion regarding the issue and has argued that Chelsea boss Conte never wanted to sign the young Belgian and was always set on landing Morata.
The ex-Leeds player wrote in the Irish independent, “All of this came about because he had to replace Diego Costa and I’m convinced that Conte knew he wanted to offload his problem player as early as last Christmas and babied him through the final months of the season.
“Costa wanted to go to China, was persuaded not to and then sulked. Conte got him back playing and tolerated a petulant player because of the goals he could contribute. But I would be fairly sure that he set about bringing Morata to his team around the same time and Chelsea are lucky he did.
“Lukaku has been playing well for United. He’s a much improved player and he’s flourishing in Jose Mourinho’s set-up. The biggest advance he has made is in his support play. In his first few seasons, he showed he could score goals but didn’t contribute much to the team.
“He’s not a natural footballer and has to work at his game but he’s obviously working very hard. He now looks a good bet to match his 25-goal haul from last season.
“But Conte didn’t want him. That was the bottom line. The Italian has his own vision of how Chelsea should play and Morata was the man he wanted. Events have proven him right up to now.
“This is a wonderful example of how destructive interference can be to a manager. Emelano tried to insert a player he fancied into the Chelsea team and if he had succeeded, Conte would have had to alter his vision to suit Lukaku and the Director of Football.”
