Manchester United legend Gary Neville has backed Romelu Lukaku to score a ‘ton of goals’ for Chelsea and says the signing is a ‘game-changer’ that makes Thomas Tuchel’s side one of the favourites to win the Premier League.
Last week, the Champions League holders confirmed they had re-signed Belgium striker Lukaku from Inter Milan for a club-record fee of £97.5m.
Lukaku spent three underwhelming years at Stamford Bridge earlier in his career but returns to west London as one of the best strikers in the world, having fired Inter to the Serie A title last season.
Neville expects Lukaku to score more than 25 goals this season and says his arrival at Chelsea makes the club genuine title contenders.
The Blues enjoyed an impressive victory over London rivals Crystal Palace on the opening weekend of the new season and Neville expects the club to challenge the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United for the title.
‘They are going to be serious this season. They were last season but they’re going to be really serious in terms of the Premier League,’ Neville told Sky Sports.
‘Romelu Lukaku makes them very, very dangerous. I said last week that Pep Guardiola wouldn’t sign Lukaku, City wouldn’t have been in for him because he wouldn’t suit the manager.
‘But for Chelsea, he will score a ton of goals, he’s perfect for that club. I know he’s been there before but this time he comes back with maturity, confidence, and hundreds of goals under his belt.
‘I talk about gold signings where I’ve got no doubt they will be a success. He will do the 25-30 goals. I’ve got no doubts over him.
‘He will go into that Chelsea team and make them real challenges for the Premier League title. He’s a game-changer for them in terms of pushing Man City, Man United and Liverpool for the title.’
Chelsea produced a superb performance to down Crystal Palace 3-0 on Saturday and manager Tuchel said: ‘It’s never perfect. You always find something to do better.
‘Given how we arrived to this after a match on Wednesday, long travel and today was very hot, we pushed some players over the limit in terms of minutes and physical preparation.
‘It was a very good game from the start to the end. We were well deserved winners. Big congratulations to the team. They did good and overcame tiredness.
‘We were pretty sharp. It looked easier than it was. Some players we pushed with 120 minutes over the line already and they stepped up again. We set our standards as high as possible. It was a huge team effort.’
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