Chelsea had high hopes on Romelu Lukaku when they signed him for 97.5 million pounds. On paper, Lukaku seemed like the perfect missing piece of Tuchel’s puzzle.
A striker like Lukaku almost guarantees 20+ goals per season and his records themselves speak for it.
Lukaku was having the time of his life in Inter Milan, having won the scudetto with them after 11 years of drought. So, when Chelsea signed Lukaku it was like a perfect fit for both parties involved as Lukaku played for Chelsea at his early playing days and Chelsea badly needed a traditional striker for their team to convert the chances they created.
Things didn’t go as planned as Lukaku’s explosive interview to Sky Italia didn’t go down well with Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea hierarchy.
In that Interview, Lukaku revealed he was not very happy with the situation at Chelsea and seemingly criticised Tuchel’s methods.
“I think the boss has decided to play a different formation but I have to stick at it and get on with it professionally,” Lukaku was quoted as saying by Sky Italia.
Even though the interview was given back in October, it was published recently, rightly annoyed the Chelsea fans. That was not all as Lukaku then went on to confess his love for Inter Milan in the next part of the interview and hoped to return to Inter one day, which annoyed Chelsea fans even more as he was, at the time of the interview, a Chelsea player.
Chelsea fans are rightly questioning Lukaku’s allegiance to Chelsea as Lukaku didn’t seem to respect Tuchel and his playing style in his interview. So, the question arises, what exactly is Tuchel’s style that Lukaku was so dismissive about?
When this interview took place, Lukaku was recovering from an injury and Tuchel deployed a False Nine system as he didn’t have Lukaku available.
It could be said that all of Lukaku’s allegations are over the top and Tuchel did the right thing at that time.
Injuries haven’t been kind to Chelsea this season and Tuchel had to alter his formations many times. Chelsea is also dealing with fixture congestion which made Tuchel rotate his teams.
Lukaku could have just talked to Tuchel personally instead of going public with his claims but it was an amateurish move from Belgium international as the interview certainly made him a villain.
Tuchel is now considering dropping Lukaku from his matchday squad against Liverpool and the board also supports this decision.
Chelsea, despite injuries, has held their position in the league and are now looking to solidify their place in the league.
The Lukaku saga is just an unnecessary noise that Tuchel doesn’t want in his paradise and it is yet to be seen what actions does Tuchel take.
