Thomas Tuchel has put the ball in Romelu Lukaku’s court concerning his Chelsea future, and laid down a challenge for the Belgian in doing so. The Blues boss believes that Lukaku can still become a crucial figure for Chelsea despite a tepid return to life at Stamford Bridge.
Thomas Tuchel said: “That is a question you need to ask him. For us it is clear, we can play with Romelu and we can be very strong with Romelu and we proved it. And we will prove it if he is involved and keeps involved mentally and he stays involved in the situation to go through this he can grow from it and come back stronger. It is always like this and it is for sure disappointing for him and not what we expected, not what we expected at the moment, but it is not finished and we will not give in. We never give in with any players and we never give up. We will push him, we will push as far as we can and as long as the player stays involved in the mentality that is needed to bring a team forward he can still be a crucial player.”
Tuchel said the Blues ace would have been a contender to start against the Eagles at the weekend, had he not been returning from injury. Perhaps a match against the Gunners, could be the perfect place to re-establish his confidence. Former Borussia Dortmund boss Tuchel believes Lukaku is in the right environment but things need to improve.
Thomas Tuchel said: “It isn’t only about the person or player. It is not something you can separate all the time. If you feel good as a person, you are better as a player. If you struggle as a player, you maybe struggle to feel the same confidence as a person. But he is trying everything. We are not there anymore. He does not have the influence that he had there. It was a very promising start. There has been turbulence throughout this long period of time. We try everything and he tries everything to reach this kind of level again. It is in him and in us. I think he is still in the right place but there are still things to improve. We will not give up.”
