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Rio Ferdinand lauds Chelsea FC player who has turned into ‘an animal’
Rio Ferdinand describes Romelu Lukaku’s return to the Premier League as “an animal” after a strong start to life at Chelsea FC.
The Belgian forward returned to Stamford Bridge from Inter Milan during the summer transfer window, with the Blues reportedly paying around £97 million to bring him back.
Lukaku has made an immediate impact at Stamford Bridge, with the 28-year-old scoring three goals in five Premier League appearances for the Blues. He also scored in their Champions League debut earlier this month.
The forward joined Inter Milan in the summer of 2019 after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer deemed him surplus to requirements at Manchester United.
Lukaku had a standout season in Italy, scoring 24 goals and assisting 11 more to help Inter win the league title.
Ferdinand believes that Lukaku’s timing at Old Trafford was off – and that he has clearly moved up a gear since leaving Manchester United.
Speaking to BT Sport, as quoted by the Daily Express, Ferdinand said: “Sometimes it’s about the club fitting the player and the player fitting that club at the right time.
“I think the timing wasn’t right for him at Man United. The stability they have now wasn’t there when he was there.
“If it was now it would be very different – I think he’d be doing what he’s doing here [at Chelsea FC].
“He went away under a cloud at Man United and has come back an animal and someone you can count on to win you trophies.”
Lukaku was unable to find the back of the net as Chelsea FC suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season, a 1-0 loss to Manchester City on Saturday.
Blues manager Thomas Tuchel admitted after the game that he was not confident in his team’s ability to attack with long balls.
“It’s about making opponents underperform,” said Tuchel. “City did this to us, they had high ball wins. We talked about the high pressing but with our decision-making I never felt fully confident we would escape the pressure with short passes. I never felt fully confident when we decided to go for long balls.
“We have Romelu upfront who we can put long balls into, but without that genuine belief and confidence, and also without the moments where you really hurt your opponent, it gets more and more difficult, and this is how the game went on Saturday.”
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Rio Ferdinand lauds Chelsea FC player who has turned into ‘an animal’
