Jose Mourinho’s decision to allow Romelu Lukaku to move to Everton for the rest of the season was met by glee from the Toffees, but with a sense of frustration from the Blues fans. The 20-year-old is one of the most promising frontmen in the Premier League and to let him leave with Fernando Torres leading the line is, well, absurd in my opinion. Let’s take a look at the statistics.
Lukaku spent last season on loan to West Brom where he hit 17 goals in 35 league games to really stamp his name on the English topflight. Head down to Stamford Bridge and Torres struck just eight times in 36, an enormous difference.
The pair created a similar number of chances – Torres 37 and Lukaku 36 – although the Belgian played a game less.
Lukaku’s pass accuracy was slightly higher (72%) than the Spaniard’s (69%) but latter won 45% of his duels whereas Lukaku won 44%.
The bullish forward had 79 shots at goal during his Premier League stint at the Hawthorns, hitting the target on 52 occasions (66%). Torres tried his luck at goal on 52 occasions at goal, hitting the target 58% of the time.
For me, Lukaku is the man to lead Chelsea’s line, with Sameul Eto’o, Demba Ba and Torres rotating as needs be.
It’s a long season, after all.
I can see where you're coming from, but comparing stats for a striker from West Brom, where the midfield is questionable at best, to a striker at Chelsea where the style of play and midfield are vastly different is comparing apples to oranges. I'm excited at the prospect of what Lukaku will become, but he isn't there yet. Torres battles better, makes better decisions, and is more experienced. Look at Ba's scoring record at Newcastle before he came to Chelsea last season, and then look at what he did once with the Blues. We almost play with a false number nine at times because of our attacking midfield. Depending on what Mourinho's plans are this season, who is up front may not matter so much considering how he intends to use his attacking midfielders/wingers, so why not ensure Lukaku plays week in and week out. If Torres plays like he did against Bayern we'll be just fine, and if Eto'o can play near where he was at two years ago, with our midfield we'll be just fine.
Well, Lukaku is younger,but faster than Torres,but Torres is more experience,and the skill analysis above is quite confusing,i think i prefer Torres to Lukaku.