Romelu Lukaku
Football player Romelu Lukaku arrives at the Eurostar terminal in St Pancras train station in London. REUTERS REUTERS

Anderlecht striker Romelu Lukaku arrived in London on Monday morning ahead of his £18m move to Chelsea.

Lukaku, 18, has scored twice in two games in the current campaign but will now become new Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas' first significant signing of the summer.

"He's a good man," Villas-Boas told reporters.

The Belgian international has been likened to current Cote d'Ivore striker Didier Drogba; indeed the Chelsea player was instrumental in bringing Lukaku to Stamford Bridge. The two players have been in regular contact over the past year, the Telegraph reports, with Real Madrid having a bid for Lukaku turned down last summer.

Gunther de Vos, a Belgian journalist, told the paper, "Even when he was first playing in the Belgian League as a boy who just turned 16, he was very strong.

"It is very difficult to keep him from the ball. As a big striker, he has a great header.

"His weaker points were his technical skills. At first, dribbling and first-time passing weren't' his thing. But he worked hard on this and improved a lot."

The arrival of Lukaku has raised question marks over Daniel Sturridge's long-term future at Stamford Bridge. The England Under-21 international spent the second half of last season on-loan at Bolton Wanderers and has impressed in pre-season, since returning to west London.

But with Fernando Torres and Nicolas Anelka also in consideration for a place in the Chelsea first-XI, the 21-year-old could be tempted to look elsewhere for regular first-team football.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle is keen to bring Sturridge back to the Reebok Stadium next season and he remains confident he will bring in an additional striker before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

"I will do my utmost to furnish the club with those signings that will help the team," he told ESPN.

"It is always more difficult if you don't have the finance. I don't get too caught up in what everybody else had got. Good luck to them. I have to make the best of the hand that I am dealt.

Meanwhile, Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala have confirmed the signing of defender Yury Zhirkov for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £13m.

Zhirkov, 27, cost Chelsea £18m from CSKA Moscow in 2009 but struggled to hold down a regular starting position, as injuries hampered his Stamford Bridge career.

"FC Anzhi has come to an agreement with Chelsea for transfer of the Russian national team player Yury Zhirkov," a club statement read.

"This morning the newcomer to our team, after a medical check-up, signed a four-year contract."