Former West Ham striker Frank McAvennie has urged Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur to not sign Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian has been linked as the replacement for Harry Kane this summer.
Reports in Italy suggest Tottenham are looking to take advantage of Juventus’ delay in dealing with Chelsea to sign Lukaku. Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou wants a striker this summer and the Belgian is one of the names mentioned.
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has no plans to add Lukaku to his squad this season and made him stay away from the first-team training. The forward was also left behind in Cobham for the pre-season tour of the United States.
McAvennie believes Tottenham are making a mistake by targeting Lukaku, as he told Football Insider:
“That would be a bad move for Tottenham. I can’t see the Spurs supporters warming up to the transfer if he was to arrive. He’s been all around Europe and hasn’t achieved anything and I think it would be the same story if he was to go Tottenham.”
He added:
“I love people to prove me wrong, but maybe his best days are behind him and, and I’m not being funny but the amount of money these guys make, does Spurs want to risk such an important transfer? I don’t know if he’s got that fire in his belly, you know, when he came back to Chelsea a couple of seasons ago he has never been the same player that he was at Inter Milan.”
Inter Milan were leading the race to sign Lukaku but opted out after they found out the striker was also in talks with Juventus.
Former Manchester United striker backs Tottenham to sign Chelsea star
While Frank McAvennie believes Romelu Lukaku would be a bad signing for Tottenham, former Manchester United player Dwight Yorke has disagreed. He believes that the striker is good enough to be playing for a top 6 side and even backed his former club to sign him.
Speaking to OLBG, Yorke claimed that Lukaku can still get any club 15-20 goals a season and should be a good pick:
“Romelu Lukaku is absolutely still good enough to play for a top-six club. I think Man United or Tottenham should take Lukaku on a short-term loan deal and agree to pay a certain amount of his wages. As much as people say about Lukaku, he has a very impressive goalscoring record and he doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves.”
Chelsea striker Lukaku played 96 matches for Manchester United during his spell at Old Trafford. He finished with 42 goals and 13 assists before heading to Inter Milan.