£48,300,000

aries - sadly you're 100% but we paid £18m and he's not gotten any cheaper. Actually I cannot see him being sold at all, he is definitely going to play for us. But going on a second loan? That is the general consensus amongst our fans. Maybe that has piqued your curiosity.

And I am TCW, not Carlo

TCW, I actually just don't think he's good enough for Chelsea yet. I compare him with Daniel Sturridge and Sturridge seems so much more advanced - the hat-trick he scored for Liverpool at Fulham a couple of weeks ago was sublime. I couldn't believe it when you sold him to Liverpool for £12m and Lukaku has a value of £17m.

Sturridge had 6 months left on his contract and we reached a bit of an impasse.

Not good enough for Chelsea?

Have to disagree. He's scored 17 goals for us this season. Imagine what he'd do with Lampard, Oscar, Hazard and Mata feeding him balls all day!

He is better than Torres and Ba.

Phenomenal talent and sure, still has progress to make....but he's easily good enough for Chelsea.

Some Baggies news from Chris Lepkowski.

@ChrisLepkowski
#wba release Thomas and Jara Reyes. Club having talks with Reid. Will also see how things evolve with Gera and Fortuné.

As for Popov, a fee was pre-agreed with Kyiv last summer...but #wba will be having more talks with the Ukrainians on that front.

Last time I asked him, MAF was seeking 2 years. #wba wanted to offer 1. Might be some middle ground. Maybe not. #Wait&see

And finally... El Ghanassy will return back to his parent club. The less said, the better. #wba

CL also confirms our interest in Anderlecht striker Mbokani. Please let that one happen. An absolute beast.

TCW, I'd forgotten Sturridge only had 6 months left on his contract. Do you regret his leaving?

JH, I wasn't comparing Lukaku with Demba Ba and Torres, I was comparing him with Daniel Sturridge, in particular pointing out the difference between Chelsea letting Sturridge go to Liverpool for £12 million and paying Anderlecht £17 million for Lukaku. Lukaku is better than Demba Ba, but is he really better than Torres? Torres has had a ropey time of it lately with Chelsea, and the £50 million price tag hasn't helped (and that was nothing to do with him) but even so, check out his record with Spain and Chelsea.
Yes, Lukaku scored 17 goals for us, but don't forget, Albion have got a good midfield too supplying the chances. But Chelsea will be looking for someone better. At best he'll be a bench warmer there. He's even been a bench warmer for Albion as Steve Clarke rotated the forwards. I think Chelsea paid over the odds for him, but he would be great for a lesser club like Albion.
Time will tell.

He's miles better than Torres at the moment. (Although Torres form has looked decent the last month)

Do you think Torres could of come on for a team like WBA and scored a hatrick against the Champions? I don't think Torres would score 17 goals for us. Has even got that many in the league for Chelsea this season? Lukaku would thrive at Chelsea. He finish top gs in the league with their offensive mf's.

I'm not a 100% sure Chelsea will use him next season, in fact I don't think they will.....and although we've got the advantage of loaning him over the likes of West Ham and Swansea (both linked with him this week), I think a team with a European place will take him. (Most likely abroard)

There is a slight chance (fingers crossed) he could come back....but I hope we don't wait around for Chelsea to make a decision leaving it too late to get a replacement. Sooner or later Chelsea will use him anyway whether its next season or the one after. Shouldn't we invest in a player that is OURS?

aries - definitely would have rather seen Sturridge and Lukaku leading our line over Torres and half a season of Ba. But hindsight is basically cheating. At the time I thought we had done decent business with a player we, for some reason, refused to use properly at any time.

JH, could we have expected anyone to come on and score a second-half hat-trick against Manchester United? Especially on the back of the performance at Norwich, where not one Albion midfielder or forward acquitted himself well. I think even Roy of the Rovers would have bet against himself doing it.
Lukaku wants European football to broaden his experience as well as regular first-team PL football to ensure his inclusion in Belgium's World Cup squad next summer. I think he's already a shoe-in for that, which now just leaves European football. I've said before that none of the top five clubs will want him, which leaves Swansea City, and they're trying to get him. That will depend on what happens to Michael Laudrup this summer, and Lukaku knows what it's like at Albion and how his game's come on with us the past 12 months.
I think Chelsea are unlikely, on balance, to use him, and that PL club Swansea will be favourites to get him, but we shouldn't just dismiss his chances of coming back to us for one more season - and that's different to holding out hope that he does.