Should Chelsea ditch Romelu Lukaku after his recent comments?
By Milly McEvoy
Thomas Tuchel has described the reaction surrounding Romelu Lukaku’s explosive interview as noise the club didn’t need, is now the time to admit Lukaku is a player Chelsea don’t need either?
Since his return after a disappointing spell between 2011-14, the Belgium striker has been in and out of the Blues' starting XI and expressed his frustration in an interview with Sky Sport Italia several weeks ago which only aired last Thursday.
Now the 28-year-old has been dropped from the Chelsea team altogether and his future looks uncertain at the West London club.
So, should Chelsea sell Romelu Lukaku?
YES
Lukaku’s return to Chelsea has been more fruitful than his first period which returned no goals in 15 games.
He already has seven goals in 18 appearances this season but the fact he has often failed to start under Tuchel means that the Blues clearly don’t need him.
Jorginho is Chelsea’s top goalscorer with nine goals and Lukaku is sharing second place with Mason Mount who has also contributed five assists to the Belgian's zero.
In Mount, Chelsea have a young star who is unlikely to call for a move away soon as he is in his 16th year with the club having come through the Blues’ academy.
If Chelsea are going to sell Lukaku, January is the best time to do it, with his fine scoring form at Inter Milan a not-so-distant memory.
Inter will of course be the club who remember it best and Lukaku expressed in the interview that he was keen to return to the club in the near future.
That future could be nearer than expected, but it would require the Italian club to have got their finances sorted with Lukaku sold to reduce their wage bill.
Which is something Chelsea could also be considering with the former Everton and Manchester United player earning a reported £200,000 a week.
Getting rid of the club’s top earner would allow Chelsea to go in search of another star name, and one who is more likely to promote cohesion among the team.
It feels slightly ludicrous to be considering selling a striker who only arrived in the summer and for a club record fee of £97.5m.
The first thing to say is that Lukaku made these comments weeks ago and has enjoyed a recent return to the starting XI — scoring two in two before being dropped for the game against Liverpool.
Whatever difficulties he was dealing with back then, he seems to have worked through now and Tuchel has given us no reason to believe that Lukaku will not return to the side in the future.
And while Lukaku has not set the Premier League alight as many hoped he would when he rejoined the Blues, he has done well for his first season back, particularly when you consider his time away from the pitch through injury and illness.
Furthermore, Belgium’s all-time top goalscorer is proof that bad times don’t last, having struggled during his first spell at Chelsea, he was on fire at Everton, before another slump at United.
Lukaku then took Serie A by storm for Inter and was the club’s highest scorer as the Nerazzurri claimed the league title last year.
This recent debacle could only be a blip for Lukaku and Chelsea and it would be a waste to sell a player with such talent.
VERDICT
Don’t sell
We might have to wait until Chelsea take on Tottenham on Wednesday to see if the striker's punishment is set to be prolonged.
But Tuchel seems a level-headed manager and he knows that Lukaku still has the ability to prove the worth of his hefty price tag.
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In fact, following the 2-2 draw with Liverpool on Sunday, Tuchel announced that he would be having talks with his Belgian forward to resolve the issue, one way or another.
He said: "He is our player, there is always a way back.
"We will clear this behind closed doors and once we have made a decision and Romelu knows, you will maybe know also. It is not to be discussed now."
Despite the comments, now is not the right time to sell Lukaku.