Chelsea broke their club record to sign Lukaku from Inter Milan over the summer, so far, it has not worked out for both parties. Chelsea spent a club-record £97.5 million on bringing Romelu Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge. Everyone associated with the club felt it was the right decision. Last season a big problem for Chelsea was the lack of genuine goal threat, especially on a consistent basis. The logic behind the outlay was that the Belgian striker would be the missing piece of the puzzle. After making an impressive start with four goals in as many appearances, things have gone downhill.
Injury setback
Lukaku picked up a knock and was subsequently sidelined for more than five weeks with an ankle injury. He is currently having to isolate for 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19. To put it bluntly, his lack of contribution is a major factor in Chelsea’s struggles in front of goals this season. With four months of the season gone, Lukaku should be in full stride by now. Instead, it feels like his second Chelsea career hasn’t really kicked off yet.
Even after that promising start, There were still signs that he needed time to gel with the team. An indication of that was the run of seven games he went on without scoring. It took another four matches following his return to end the drought and he hasn’t scored in the Premier League since September 11. Tuchel was rather worried when asked about the situation. Chelsea’s head coach said of the Belgium striker: “We did not bring him in to play on special occasions. We brought him in for consistency, but, like it or not, there is adaptation still going on. If you play in Italy or England it’s a very, very different game.
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Lukaku was bought in for a huge sum to be the difference-maker. To lead this team to the premier league title. So far, he has played just 77 minutes of Premier League football in the past two months and due to this latest setback, is unlikely to play again until January. The situation facing Chelsea now is simple. They need him back and fit if they’re to stand any chance of unseating Manchester City and Liverpool.
