Soccer:Teenage Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku declared it was a dream come true after completing his transfer to Chelsea from Anderlecht. The London club confirmed today that the deal had been finalised after the two clubs agreed a fee, thought to be between €16 million and €20 million, for the highly-rated 18-year-old earlier this month.
He underwent a medical at the Blues’ training ground in Cobham last week and will now be available for Saturday’s Barclays Premier League game against West Brom.
“Amazing. It’s a dream come true,” he said on www.chelseafc.com. “I dreamed to play here since I was 10 years old, thinking about shaking hands with all those players like John Terry and Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.
“It’s amazing to arrive here in a big club with big ambition. It was just what I was searching for.”
Petr Cech, however, will be sidelined for three to four weeks after suffering a knee ligament injury in training. Cech fell awkwardly during yesterday’s session and Chelsea will be hoping he returns in time for the Premier League trip to champions Manchester United on September 18th.
"Petr Cech yesterday suffered a medial ligament injury and will be out for three to four weeks,” manager Andre Villas-Boas said. "...it was the end of training a normal training injury, he fell awkwardly with his weight on top of him and stretched a little bit the ligament, we expected much worse when we saw the incident."
In the 29-year-old's absence Villas-Boas will have to call on one of his back-up keepers, Hilario or Ross Turnbull, for Saturday's game at home to West Bromwich Albion. Villas-Boas also confirmed that midfielder John Obi Mikel was available to face West Brom, despite the difficulties surrounding his father's abduction in Nigeria.
"As you know it is a very, very difficult situation," said Villas-Boas. "He of course made himself available for the (Stoke) game and we are counting on him, if we decide he will play."
Chelsea's Brazil defender David Luiz will again be missing on Saturday but he is back in training and will be fit for the visit of Norwich City the following weekend, he added.
