Romelu Lukaku’s future is no doubt a shade murky at present and largely undecided – and Simon Jordan says he has ‘now got himself to look at’ whilst his career remains on hold.
Chelsea’s new popular manager Mauricio Pochettino has supposedly not held any significant conversations with the Belgian striker since his return to Stamford Bridge after having been on loan with Inter Milan.
talkSPORT disclosed earlier this week that the problematic Belgian has attracted interest from Juventus and other European clubs nut the outspoken pundit Jordan is clearly unapologetic about his lack of compassion for the Chelsea striker. The Blues are also expected to urge Lukaku to agree to a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia although no deal has materialised yet, with the striker remaining awkwardly in limbo.
“The situation hasn’t changed,” Pochettino said when asked for an update on the Belgian striker’s future. “Always I tell you, all can happen.
“At the moment, the situation didn’t change. It’s a situation that was really clear before we arrived here. We are really relaxed.
“If his and club’s wish is to find a solution, the player and club will inform me to change. I will not move until the player or the club come to talk with me. It was [all decided] before I arrived.”
Inter’s interest in signing the Belgian on a long-term deal quickly evaporated into thin air when they discovered he’d also been speaking to rivals Juventus chief and Juve’s irate fans are now up in arms against him signing for them.
Although with three years left on his contract, it remains to be seen where Lukaku will end up, despite the season already being underway. Regarding this situation, Jordan says the Chelsea striker only has himself to blame.
“He wanted to behave like that, there’s consequences for it,” Jordan said on White and Jordan.
“No one is bigger than the football clubs. As soon as some of the football clubs realise it, the better it will be. Romelu Lukaku opened this can of whoop a*** on himself, so he gets on with it doesn’t he.”
The former Crystal Palace owner continued: “I’ve got no sympathy for him, because ultimately there was no necessity to do what he did.
“There was no necessity to turn it into the ridiculousness that he did, and he’s now got himself to look at, which is a very talented footballer, sitting in the reserves at Chelsea, which Chelsea don’t want and no one else seems to want at this moment, and why is that?
“It’s got nothing to do with talent. Nothing to do with talent, it’s everything to do with attitude. Look at the stories of his attitude at Man United. This isn’t something that manifested itself at Chelsea because Thomas Tuchel didn’t play him where he wanted to play him.
“This is something inherent in the boy’s outlook, what’s he got for it? A big bag of money and no game time, wonderful, and he’s a smart kid as well.
“Seven, eight languages he speaks and he’s an impressive footballer in so many ways, except when it comes to applying himself and understanding where he fits in on the cog. Which is, he’s part of the wheel, he isn’t THE wheel.”
Lukaku also apparently had similar issues at Man United, claiming the club left him in a ‘deep hole’.
The Blues are understood to want a fee in the region of £35-£38million for Lukaku – a huge loss for a player that arrived for a then-club record fee of £97.5million just two years ago.