Real No. 9: Tuchel hails Lukaku ahead of arrival in London

Agency Reports

Thomas Tuchel has hailed Romelu Lukaku as a ‘real number nine who loves to score’, with the Belgian striker’s imminent arrival at Stamford Bridge.

Lukaku is moving to Chelsea from Inter on a club-record £97.5million deal.

He has already done the medical in Milan and passed and his arrival is now being awaited in Stamford Bridge.

Tuchel who wants a centre forward such in the mould of Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland or Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski believes Lukaku will eminently play the role.

While Tuchel was reluctant to confirm that a deal for Lukaku was close, he was confident enough to discuss the forward’s many strengths and feels he can provide the focal point and goals his side have lacked.

‘We lost Olivier Giroud who played a crucial role in the club”, Tuchel told Skysports.

‘He was the kind of profile who likes to play with his back to goal, who likes to hold up balls, who creates space for Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic; who is ready to fight physically with defenders.

‘This is the kind of profile that we don’t have in our squad right now and that we are looking for.

‘It’s still not the moment to talk about names because we have nobody signed yet and we will show all the respect to other clubs.

‘Romelu is one of the guys like Haaland at Dortmund, Robert Lewandowski at Bayern, Harry Kane at Tottenham, who is a real number nine who loves to score and who has a presence in the box. That is not a secret.

‘But [his] is the kind of profile we’re looking for and if it is possible to convince agents and clubs we will do our best.’

The 28-year-old Lukaku first joined Chelsea in 2011 as a teenager.

He left in 2014 and made good impressions at Everton, Manchester United and Inter.