Chelsea and Mauricio Pochettino are faced with a number of difficult decisions to make this summer. The club are in no better a position than they were this time last year, despite the £600million overhaul under Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
The Blues are due to record one of the worst finishes in the Premier League this season following a series of unfortunate events on and off the field. The club can’t really afford another failed period in the transfer market with smarter acquisitions argued to be the smarter route to go down.
Perhaps the most demanding piece of Chelsea's puzzle that requires attention is in the striker position. This season, only 36 Premier League goals from 35 games have been scored, with no threat in the No. 9 position playing a major part in the club's downfall this term.
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Pochettino has been blessed with world-class strikers in his previous two roles. At Tottenham, he moulded Harry Kane into becoming one of the Premier League's greatest ever No. 9's before managing Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi at Paris Saint-Germain.
At Chelsea, currently, it's different. Yet that could all change when Romelu Lukaku returns from his loan spell from Inter. The £97.5m signing was tipped to take the west Londoners to the next level when he arrived in 2021 for a then-club record fee, but his return to Stamford Bridge stagnated following a controversial interview in Italy.
In his absence this campaign, Chelsea's threat in the final third has grown worse. Lukaku's form in the latter end of the season has helped Inter reach their first Champions League final since 2010 after a poor first-half of his return to Milan.
However, the question of whether the Belgian will be involved in Pochettino's plans next year remains.
The Argentine has previously gone on record to highlight the sort of attributes he demands from his main striker, with a number of glowing references for Kane. “He has something special in front of goal and that is why he’s one of the best," he said after Kane scored three in a Champions League win over Apoel Nicosia in 2017.
"All the strikers who are at this level have something special. They are killers. Harry has this special skill." He added: "He is scoring goals, his energy is fantastic... the way he works without the ball."
Kane and Lukaku are two completely different strikers. The Englishman has scored 18 more career goals than Lukaku - in 83 fewer games - but the attributes can be comparable. FBREF has Lukaku ranking in the 97th percentile for expected assisted goals (xAG) and the 94th percentile for shot-creating actions in comparison to strikers in Europe's top five leagues.
The 30-year-old ranks 96th percentile for key passes (that lead to a shot on target) and 94th percentile for the amount of aerial duels he has won. Some would argue that a fully fit Lukaku is one of the most dangerous strikers in football, it's just getting it out of him.
It's unclear what Pochettino's plan with Lukaku is just yet. Yet the Belgian's cameo in Inter's semi-final victory over AC Milan would have been encouraging viewing for the incoming Chelsea boss, with Lukaku handing Pochettino the blueprint for receiving the best version of himself.
"I like it [tough management]," he told CBS Sports. "Tough coaches tell me the real things that I want to hear, because you don't want to be pampered all the time."
For Chelsea to inherit a new No. 9, they will have to break the bank once again whilst accepting a major loss on the £97.5m they spent two years ago on Lukaku. There's a serious case for him to be Pochettino's man.
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