The return of Romelu Lukaku to his former club is the kind of emotional story any sports reporter wants

The Belgian striker, back with Chelsea, delivered and more during his (second) debut, writes Ben Burrows

Lukaku gestures toward Chelsea supporters at the end of Sunday’s 2-0 win over Arsenal (AFP/Getty)

If there’s one thing you can always count on in football, it’s a striker scoring on his debut.

When that debut comes against an already ailing Arsenal, you can virtually take it to the bank.

So when Romelu Lukaku, fresh from his big-money return to Chelsea – the club he left back in 2014 – was named in the starting 11 against the Gunners on Sunday, you could almost guarantee he would be finding the back of the net on his second first outing for them.

And so it proved as the Belgian took just 14 minutes of his debut to do so as part of a man-of-the-match display and driving force behind a comfortable London derby win at the Emirates.

Lukaku was exceptional throughout and looked every bit worth the £97.5m the Blues paid to get him, doing what he does better than almost anyone, hassling and harrying and using his nous and physicality to bully the Arsenal back line into submission.

His goal was a case in point of everything he brings to the table as he first outmuscled the defence to hold the ball up, before smartly picking the ideal route into the box at the inch-perfect moment to finish with ease.

Put simply, he was the difference, which is exactly what the European champions paid all that money for him to be.

The emotional return of any player to his former club is just what any sports journalist wants.

The script was written for it, as they so often say, and Lukaku delivered.

It doesn’t always go this well of course – many a player has gone back to a former haunt and regretted it – but this combination of player and club back together again already looks a perfect match.

The story writes itself and this one looks set to be a glorious and goal-filled second chapter.

Yours

Ben Burrows

Sports editor