Chelsea's latest potential superstar arrived by Eurostar on Monday morning to put the finishing touches to a ?16million-plus move to Stamford Bridge.
Romelu Lukaku was planning to fly in to Heathrow before making the short transfer to Chelsea's Cobham training ground for the formalities of undergoing a medical and putting his name to a five-year contract.
Instead, he opted for rail as his preferred method of transport, drawing quizzical looks from early-morning commuters, as he boarded the 8.05 Eurostar from Brussels along with his agent Christophe Henrotay.
Arriving at St Pancras just under two hours later, the pair were met by a Chelsea official for a chauffeur-driven ride to Cobham, where the 18-year old was due to have a medical and sign his long-term deal.
Chelsea started chasing Lukaka long before Andre Villas-Boas took charge at Stamford Bridge but the youngster is looking forward to working with his new boss.
He said: 'He's a good man.'
After pursuing him for over two years, persistence has finally paid off for Chelsea - but at a cost. They are paying Anderlecht an initial ?13m, with a potential ?6m to follow, depending on appearances and achievements.
They are stumping up a further ?3.3m - 25 per cent of the initial outlay - for Lukaku's family, in an agreement struck between the striker and his former club, and are even understood to have agreed to meet the cost of the agent's fee.
Sign of things to come: Lukaku during his visit to Chelsea last year
For that, they will be recruiting a powerful, pacey frontrunner who has been widely likened to Didier Drogbaand has already shown an appreciation of his new responsibilities.
Despite being pressed to share his thoughts with members of the Belgian media on his way over, he remained tight-lipped, after being told by Chelsea that his first interview must be with the club's in-house TV station.
Lukaku must be back in Brussels by 10am on Tuesday at the latest, in time for a late-morning training session priorto the squad flying out to Slovenia in the afternoon, ahead of Wednesday night's friendly international.
?CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE FANTASY FOOTBALL GAME Now I'm in Blue heaven! Lukaku set to complete bumper ?20m Chelsea switchSportsmail's ultimate lowdown on Chelsea ahead of the new Barclays Premier League seasonKanchelskis claims Zhirkov took easy option in quitting Chelsea for RussiaAll the latest Chelsea news, features and opinion
Source: Daily Mail
Source: Daily Mail