Clarke: Lukaku must compete for a place
The 19-year-old Belgian recently lashed out at Chelsea, his parent club, as he bemoaned his lack of chances last season and decided that the best way to remedy this was to give a sob-story to the media by saying that his year at Stamford Bridge was a waste of time. I’m not sure the club will be impressed with what they heard as the player portrayed both them and himself in a negative light.
It would seem as though Clarke, former Blue, won’t take any crap off Lukaku either and although he understands the forward’s desire to play, he’s only going to get opportunities by earning them and to do that he’ll have to shut up and work hard.
“He’s certainly hungry, I know that. He wants to do well and prove himself in the Premier League.
“Whether he has grievances with Chelsea is not for me to comment on. I don’t know what happened last year at Chelsea. It was obviously going to be difficult for him to get in the team ahead of Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres and that proved to be the case.
“But he’s got a clean slate this year. He’s one of a number of strikers competing for a place in my team and I’m hoping that at the end of this year he’s not complaining about anything.”
Although Lukaku won’t face as much competition as he did at Chelsea behind the likes of Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres, West Brom also have a number of forwards that he has to fight his way ahead of, including Peter Odemwingie, Shane Long, Marc-Antoine Fortune and Markus Rosenborg.
He’s a player that needs to work on a few things, including his terrible first touch, and he’s in good hands with Steve Clarke. Although I’m annoyed by what he’s said, I’ll be willing to forgive his rudeness if he shows us what he’s capable of whilst on loan at the Hawthorns.
Source: http://www.setanta.com/ie/Articles/2012/08/16/Clarke-issues-loan-man-warning/gnid-151016/?