The 20-year-old Belgian has spent this season on loan to Everton under manager Roberto Martinez, where he has featured as a regular first team starter with 33 Premier League appearances to date. Wilkins, who has served Chelsea both as a player and coaching staff, explained how the young forward has demonstrated his ability to perform against other top clubs and proved himself a consistent scorer in the eyes of Blues boss Mourinho; who has made no secret about the fact he is unhappy with the lack of goals by his strikers at Chelsea this season.
He told FootballDirectNews.com: “There’s lots of talk in the media about Lukaku, saying Chelsea will sell him, but he’s scored 13 goals for Everton in the league this season and been outstanding. “He scored against Arsenal last weekend, he scored twice against Liverpool in the derby, he’s done very well scoring goals against teams that Jose would have hoped that he could score against, so that would put in a favourable position. ”Lukaku, who signed for Chelsea in 2011, spent the 2012-2013 season on loan to West Bromwich Albion, where he proved himself a key player in their Premier League campaign, scoring 17 goals and helping the Baggies to an 8th place finish in the table.
The midlands-based club have netted considerably less goals this season and are currently in 16th place. Wilkins said this is owing to the fact they have missed Lukaku and not been unable replace him with a striker of similar goal-scoring ability.
“Lukaku was outstanding at West Brom last season, he scored 17 goals and they just haven’t been able to find those goals this year. “His move on-loan to Everton is the reason they’ve found themselves in difficulty,” he added.
