Is Romelu Lukaku Chelsea's worst-ever signing?

When Romelu Lukaku joined for Chelsea in 2021, he was viewed as the club's final piece of the puzzle. Chelsea had already won the Champions League, and all they needed was a quality striker. After failing to recruit Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski, the club chose for Lukaku, and everyone was pleased with the decision. The events of the previous year have been nothing short of a disaster. Lukaku is attempting to negotiate a return to Inter Milan, while Chelsea is also attempting to complete the transaction.

On that note, we will look at the facts, what Lukaku said about himself and how the fans feel to assess whether the Belgian is the worst signing in the club's history.

If one were to take away everything Lukaku has said or done over the past year and just focus on football, then he would still be a poor signing. Lukaku's transfer fee was £97.5m, a record fee for Chelsea. The Belgian made 44 appearances for the club, scoring 15 goals in all competitions and providing two assists.

Considering everyone expected him to score 20 goals in the Premier League alone, it shows that this was a poor return. Lukaku started his second stint with Chelsea well, but he got injured in a Champions League game. Once he returned from injury, he showed glimpses of the form he showed at Inter but nothing substantial for the rest of the season. 

Lukaku only recorded seven touches against Crystal Palace in February. At any level of any contact sport with a ball, it is impossible to record only seven touches. It just highlights the lack of effort he was showing on the pitch.