Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba believes Romelu Lukaku will move back to Chelsea after the Belgian rejected a new Everton deal.
The 23 year-old, who is contracted with Everton until 2019, has scored 51 goals in over 100 appearances for the Toffees since joining permanently for £28m in 2014.
Drogba told Sky Sports that he thought a return to Stamford Bridge would be good for the club and for his ‘little brother.’
“I am always challenging him,” said Drogba, who has won four Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy in 2012. “Chelsea is his club since he was young, so why not? He wants to be the best. He knows the house already and I think he wants to prove he can be successful here.”
After hearing this, Everton manager Ronald Koeman added at his pre-match Burnley press conference: "Maybe I wait for a call from Drogba to tell me what happens next season? I cannot change the situation. We will see what happens at the end of the season."
Why does Lukaku want to leave?
Lukaku’s agent Mino Raiola said that a contract renewal was ’99.9 percent done’ earlier this year after Everton offered a package in excess of £130,000 per week.
But Lukaku says it is his ambition to win trophies that is driving the Premier League’s current leading goal scorer away from Goodison Park.
“You cannot only be remembered by scoring goals,” said Lukaku in the Daily Mail. “You want to be remembered by winning trophies. Which players do they want to bring in so they can challenge for the big trophies?"
He added, “If you don’t win a trophy, something has gone wrong because if you have the belief you can do something then you can do it. That’s how I think.”
Is a return to Chelsea possible?
If Lukaku does leave in the summer, Koeman has identified two La Liga forwards he would like to bring to Merseyside, according to The Express.
One is Villarreal’s Cedric Bakambu, a 25 year-old Congolese international and the other is Real Sociedad’s Willian Jose, also 25, who has scored 11 goals in 19 appearances this term.
At the Stamford Bridge end, various reports are linking an unhappy Diego Costa with a big money move to Chinese Super League outfit Tianjin, who offered a reported £250,000 per week deal in January.
As Lukaku sits on top of the Premier League scoring charts with 23 goals to his name, and Chelsea’s leading scorer Costa unsettled, a return to London may have come at the right time for Lukaku.