Sunday People

Blues now have a finisher to make them the finished article

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ROMELU LUKAKU says he has unfinished business at Chelsea.

And that could spell trouble for Pep Guardiola, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jurgen Klopp.

Of all the big-ticket summer signings, no one filled a more pressing need than the big Belgium hitman (above) at Stamford Bridge.

Jadon Sancho will be a success at Manchester United with his pace and ball-carrying skills.

Raphael Varane could be the bargain-basement buy of the campaign, adding experience and a winning mentality at the back at Old Trafford.

Jack Grealish could be a Jack-inthe-penalty box for Guardiola. His close control and neat-feet football is right up the Spaniard’s street.

Can they tip the balance for their clubs in this season’s title race? Quite possibly.

But if Lukaku stays fit he will add the firepower Thomas Tuchel so desperatel­y needs to pip them all. The German’s side – sorry, Roman Abramovich’s side – might have been crowned champions of Europe but they were by no means the finished article.

In the Premier League they came up well short. And it was clear where the problem lay.

Last season in one fixture against soon-to-be-relegated Fulham, Tuchel was pulling out what little hair he had left as chance after chance went begging.

The Cottagers didn’t play badly but it was men against boys. They escaped with a two-goal defeat.

Had he been playing, Lukaku would have claimed a hat-trick, comfortabl­y.

If that’s the conclusion from a hack who watches them once every two or three weeks, then those at the Bridge must have been counting down the clock to the opening of the transfer window like a parched pub-goer in sight of the day’s first pint.

As statement signings go, it was some statement.

It takes guts to admit that you want a player back who you were happy to sell almost a decade ago and make him your club’s record signing.

But whoever makes the decisions down the King’s Road, they don’t get too many wrong and they are quickly sorted out when they do.

And this is the ultimate plug ’n’ play capture.

Lukaku is 28. He’s been playing in top leagues throughout Europe since 2012 and has a better strike rate than one goal every two matches.

He looked top heavy at Manchester United, like there was too much power and not enough pace. But his physique changed at Inter Milan playing under Antonio Conte (left).

Lukaku still looks powerful and now he will add the finishing touches to a blueprint which, since the Russian revolution, has been Chelsea’s most successful.

Think Didier Drogba, Diego Costa… rather more than Mateja Kezman or Fernando Torres.

A big focal point, big player, big scorer of goals and scorer of big goals. Lukaku fits the bill on all those fronts. And he can certainly top the bill for Tuchel.

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