Openly disgruntled Chelsea striker, Romelu Lukaku, seems to be reaping the just rewards for his rebellious act in publicly pointing an accusing finger at his manager, Thomas Tuchel, recently, with his future now looking increasingly uncertain after the striker was dropped for Sunday’s Premier League clash with Liverpool, sources have told ESPN.
Tuchel followed up with the decision to jettison the striker from the crucial fixture against the Merseysiders following talks with Lukaku in the wake of the latter’s controversial interview conducted by Sky Italia three weeks ago but released only on Thursday recently.
Lukaku said he was “not very happy with the situation’ at Chelsea with Tuchel preferring to play “a different formation” to the one he expected, adding that he was desirous of returning to Inter Milan while still in the prime of his career, having only left the Serie A side last summer in a €115 million (£97.5m) deal.
When contacted the following day, Tuchel said that the Belgian striker’s comments were “unhelpful”and risked taking the focus away from a pivotal moment in the Premier League title race. Regardless, taking the gamble to omit Lukaku is a massive call any way you look at it, given the magnitude of the occasion with both Chelsea and Liverpool trying eagerly to reduce the gap between them and Manchester City at the top of the table.
Sources have disclosed to ESPN that Lukaku gave the interview without the club’s knowledge, something that Tuchel and his staff have frowned on.
When asked on Friday how to get the best out of Lukaku, Tuchel replied: “Training, training, playing. Training, playing, training, sleeping, eating good, training, playing, sleeping, eating good, drink a lot of water, sleep, train and don’t give interviews.”
One doesn’t need to be a clairvoyant to see that the handwriting is already on the wall.