Romelu Lukaku was supposed to be the marquee player at Chelsea after his big-money move from Inter Milan during the summer but his impact in the first half of the season has been really muffled.
He’s missed several games due to injuries and even when he’s started, the forward hasn’t had the desired impact. To make matters even more complex, Romelu Lukaku recently gave an interview expressing his unhappiness at Chelsea and his desire to return to Inter in the near future.
These comments have obviously not gone down too well with the club and he’s faced immediate backlash from Thomas Tuchel as he was omitted from the matchday squad against Liverpool during the weekend.
Many pundits have since come out to question this decision from the Chelsea boss while others believe Romelu Lukaku should remain frozen out of the squad. And with a key EFL Cup game vs Tottenham coming up, there was a massive chance that the Belgian will be absent for this match as well.
Will Romelu Lukaku start vs Spurs?
Thankfully, all the problems have since been resolved with Thomas Tuchel admitting that Romelu Lukaku has apologised for his statements and hence will return to the matchday squad vs Spurs.
Tuchel told the press: ‘We are happy we took the time that it needed to look on it and to talk calmly about it. This is what we did.
‘Romelu apologised and is back in the squad for today’s training which is later. For me, the most important thing was to clearly understand and believe that it was not intentional.
‘He did not do this intentionally to create this kind of noise in front of a big game.
‘Secondly, it was the very first time. Before, when he seemed in his opinion to be ready to play from the start after his injury, and we thought he needed to readapt to the intensity a little bit more, there was never the slightest behaviour against the team.
‘So it was the very first time that we actually felt in this way. And these are very important points to stay calm, understanding that it’s not as big as maybe people want it to be. It’s also not small, but it’s small enough to stay calm, to accept an apology and to move forward.’
Romelu Lukaku has been fined by @ChelseaFC 💙 pic.twitter.com/PgjNEIRpxY
— Frank Khalid (@FrankKhalidUK) January 4, 2022
The fire has been doused rather quickly which is a job well done by the manager as well as Romelu Lukaku. Unlike other clubs, the Blues have made sure that this interview does not remain the headlines for the coming weeks.
The 28-year-old has only netted five goals in 13 Premier League games so far this season and the only way he can get his confidence back is by playing constant games. And this match against Conte’s Spurs will be the ideal opportunity for the forward to score goals and win over the angry Chelsea fans.
Lukaku has a major price tag on his shoulders and now after this interview, he will be under constant pressure up until the very final gameweek of the season.
As far as the EFL Cup semi-final is concerned, Antonio Conte knows very well what Romelu Lukaku can do so the Spurs boss will brief his defenders well on how to tackle him. Now it’s up to the Belgian to overthrow Conte’s preparation and dominate.
The big apprehension for Tuchel though is that while Romelu Lukaku has crushed the minnows in the Premier League but he’s always gone missing against the so-called bigger clubs(even when he was playing for Everton as well as Manchester United).
