Mourinho: Lukaku Did Not Want To Fight For Place

Jose Mourinho has said that Belgium’s young talent Romelu Lukaku lacked motivation to play for the blues.

Lukaku just completed his €35 million move to Everton and was unveiled as an Everton striker this wednessday.

Mourinho said: “The thinking was, first of all, the fact that Romelu was always very clear with us that in his mentality and his approach he was not highly motivated to come to a competitive situation at Chelsea”.


“He wanted to play for Chelsea but clearly only as the first choice striker – and at a club of our dimension it’s very difficult to promise a player that status.

“That reduced, immediately, his desire to come to us. After that Everton came with an important offer and because we want to be inside the Financial Fair Play rules, you have to analyse these situations.”

Chelsea had just acquired Diego Costa, and just brought back Didier Drogba thus pushing Lukaku down the list.

Lukaku praised Everton, that the club represents a good place to grow, he said:  “Roberto has been very influential in the deal”. “He is someone who knows football and I want to learn from him and develop under him. He challenged me personally.

“I told him very quickly that I wanted to play under him. The rest was set up by the board and my agent. Now that I’m here I want to help my teammates.

“I decided very quickly that I wanted to come back here. I am 21, I need to play at a high level and with a good team. I needed to be in a place that felt right.

“I have the trust of the supporters here. I can grow and develop. I came back because I have a very good relationship with the players and the staff. I feel like I belong.

“I haven’t seen any of the lads but I have been in touch with all of them over the last two months.”