Former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has explained why he believes Thomas Tuchel isn’t getting the best out of Romelu Lukaku.
Antonio Conte said “A coach is good if he can improve players. I think we did great work with Romelu over two years. He is a very specific striker. Bringing Lukaku into the box, he is dangerous. However, when he starts from midfield, he is incredibly quick. It is very difficult to find a player who is both a target man, but can also run from midfield. These are also characteristics I can see in Erling Haaland. I had been tracking Lukaku for a very long time and wanted him when I was at Chelsea, even when he was at West Brom. During the game, there are moments when Lukaku needs to be turned on, but other than that he is one of the toughest forwards to play against, because he can do damage in any area of the pitch. If you have a centre-forward like that, you need to use him and I don’t think Chelsea have quite figured out how to use him yet. Last season, they didn’t have a proper centre-forward, so they rotated positions, whereas Romelu is a real reference point in attack. If they can figure out how to use Lukaku, then Chelsea can become the team to beat in the Champions League this season.”
The Blues spent a club-record £97.5million to bring Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge following a two-year stint with Inter Milan, where he played under Conte’s stewardship, clinching the Serie A title earlier this year. The Italian, who also left the Nerazzurri in the summer, claimed that Tuchel has been misusing the 28-year-old, despite the prolific centre-forward having scored four goals already this season.
