Are Roma Looking at Romelu Lukaku?

Just when you thought the rumor mill would take a little break, Roma is once more immersed in an intriguing stew of hearsay and conjecture, this time centered around Belgian hotshot and Chelsea castaway, Romelu Lukaku. The 22-year-old Belgian joins a long and impressive list of strikers connected to Roma this season, ranging from Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Eden Dzeko to Ciro Immobile. Of course, all of that means very little in and of itself, but the club has certainly moved into another echelon of make believe transactions, so that's certainly a welcome development, right?

Anyway, on to the man of the hour, Mr. Lukaku. If you're an EPL automaton, you're undoubtedly familiar with his story by now. After leaving Anderlecht at the tender age of 18, Lukaku made a big money move (well, big by Serie A standards, particularly for a teenager) to Chelsea, where he was seemingly the heir apparent to Fernando Torres (stifle that laughter), but failed to make an impact in Chelsea's first team, spending much of his first year in the reserves.

Lukaku spent the two ensuing seasons on loan, first with West Brom and later with Everton, for whom he played the past two seasons; the latter of which came after Everton doled out 28 million pounds to purchase him, a club record. And talk about a productive stretch of football.

Over the past three seasons, Lukaku, still barely into his twenties, amassed 42 goals in just over 100 appearances for those middling British clubs. Last season alone, Lukaku scored 20 goals and contributed seven assists across all competitions. Point being, he's starting to put it all together. And fast.

Why, then, would Everton want to part with their prize pony, you ask?

I have no idea. They probably don't, making this another fruitless rumor; fruitless but incredibly intriguing. La Gazzetta dello Sport is the prime mover behind this rumor, using nothing beyond the fact that Lukaku's agent represented Serie A stars like Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba in the past as the foundation for this...ahem..."story".

That's it. Seriously. For realz.

But Lukaku is 6'3", left footed, and can do things like this.

I'm on board, but £28 million is roughly €40m, so even if we simply assume Everton wants to recoup their investment, this ain't happening without a couple of major sales.

Sorry, Jonas.