Lukaku to fire up the Blues

BELFAST • Chelsea won the Champions League last season but their Premier League title bid was derailed over the lack of a cutting edge.

Despite splurging £47.5 million (S$89.2 million) on Germany forward Timo Werner, the Blues scored just 58 top-flight goals - the lowest tally of the sides that finished in the top four and 25 behind English champions Manchester City.

There was more evidence of that wayward finishing on Wednesday in Belfast as Chelsea squeezed past Villarreal 6-5 on penalties after the scoreline finished 1-1 following extra time to win the Uefa Super Cup at a 13,000-strong Windsor Park.

But manager Thomas Tuchel will be rectifying that problem area with the imminent signing of Romelu Lukaku.

The Belgium striker flew into London the same evening to finalise a £97.5 million move from Inter Milan, which would make him the second-most expensive player signed by a British club, only days after City spent £100 million to land Jack Grealish from Aston Villa.

Voted the best player in Serie A last season, Lukaku fired 24 goals as Inter won their first Scudetto in 11 years.

Tuchel will be hoping the burly 28-year-old can prove to be as big of a success in his second spell at Stamford Bridge - he was at the club from 2011-14 but failed to open his account - and help his new team win their first league title since 2016-17.

Werner also feels Lukaku's arrival can only benefit him as his game was better suited playing off a target man, as opposed to the solo role he performed last term.

"He's probably one of the best-three strikers in the world at the moment, no question," the former RB Leipzig star told Sky Sports.

"I don't think we need to say too much about him. I certainly think at Leipzig, it always helped me having a big striker alongside me. I think that's always good because I'm not the biggest and when you play on your own up front, you obviously always have the attention of one or two brawny defenders.

"It's a good new weapon to have in our game that if you play a long ball, he'd hold it up and then the fast players around him can set off. I think that's good for any team."

3 Just three of the 47 Super Cup finals have gone to penalties, with Chelsea being involved in all three - winning on Wednesday, and losing against Bayern Munich in 2013 and Liverpool in 2019.

Pundit Rio Ferdinand is equally confident that it is a strike-partnership set to flourish.

"If Lukaku gets the chances he (Werner) missed last season, then Lukaku gets 30-plus goals this season because he's a predator, but Werner stretches teams, he runs in behind and that will suit Lukaku," he said.

If the deal is announced by today, Lukaku can be registered in time for Chelsea's home game with Crystal Palace tomorrow.

Tuchel will be missing Hakim Ziyech after the Morocco winger, who opened the scoring against Villarreal, suffered a "serious" shoulder injury in the first half.

Chelsea were dominant before the break but their La Liga opponents fought back in the second half and equalised through Spain striker Gerard Moreno.

It ultimately came down to penalties and Spain goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga came off the bench to make two saves from Aissa Mandi and Raul Albiol as Tuchel's men lifted their second Super Cup, 23 years after their first.

Chelsea No. 1 Edouard Mendy, who made some excellent stops during the game, was one of the first to congratulate his backup replacement and Tuchel revealed it was a tactical decision.

"It was certainly not spontaneous. We had some statistics, we were well-prepared," he said.

"Kepa has the best percentage in saving penalties. The analysing guys, goalkeeper coaches showed me the data and we spoke with the players that this could happen."

On Palace, Tuchel admitted going to penalties was not ideal as they now had little time to prepare but he hoped the mental boost from lifting another trophy would give his squad extra legs.

"Physically this was the worst thing that could happen to us, playing extra time. Mentally, it was the best thing to happen," he said.

"But this is the schedule. This the situation and it helps nobody if we say we're not ready. We have to adapt, to be as ready as we can be in our mindset, and give our best on Saturday."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE