Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho called Romelu Lukaku’s motivation and mental toughness in to question but was it a question of that for the striker? Was he unwilling to stay and fight for a starting position because he was mentally weak and gave up too easily? Jose Mourinho seems to think so and many signs point to that being true. Perhaps if Lukaku did not ask for a loan last season after his first sign of failure then maybe many Chelsea fans would think differently but that is not the case.
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If Lukaku’s penalty against Bayern Munich had gone in would he have been happy to stay at Chelsea as the hero rather than the scapegoat in an ultimately meaningless friendly? My best guess is yes. Instead, at the first obstacle he sees in a blue shirt other than a stubborn manager in Andres Villas Boas, Lukaku takes the easy way out and asks to be loaned out for a second straight season.
"“The thinking was first of all the fact that Romelu was always very clear with us that in his mentality and his approach he was not highly motivated to come to a competitive situation at Chelsea. He wanted to play for Chelsea but clearly as the first choice striker which in club of our dimension very difficult to promise to a player that status. That reduced, immediately, his desire to come to us.After that Everton came with an important offer and as I always say, because it’s the reality of our club and we want to do things well and be inside the financial fair play rules (FFP), it’s always in the thoughts of the board, when you have the chance to make some movement that create positive impact on FFP we always analyse these situations.”-Jose MourinhoSource: ESPN"
It’s easy to play for a club that finishes in the middle of the Premier League table and never has realistic European aspirations but it’s not quite as easy to play with the expectations of one of the biggest clubs in the world. A bad stretch at Everton is greeted with derision from a relatively small amount of fans and not the global fanbase that Chelsea has. There is a reason why a young boy growing up in Belgium became a Chelsea fan and not an Evertonian and declared that he would he succeed at Stamford Bridge and came for a visit.
When big bad Jose Mourinho scared Romelu Lukaku by questioning his desire and pushing him to do better, the youngster found a shoulder to cry on in Roberto Martinez. Credit to Martinez for making Lukaku believe in himself but the fact remains that it is easy to score goals for a team that not many fear in Everton than it is for Chelsea. Teams do not “park the bus” against Everton like they do against Chelsea and they are not expected to win week in and week out.
Young players often come up to big clubs and simply cannot handle the pressure. Some find the bright lights too much to handle, others cannot handle the fame and temptations that come with it, and some just want to be loved by a tough fanbase. Romelu Lukaku claimed to love Chelsea from the day he arrived, but when he was asked to prove it, he never did.
Chelsea never rolled out the red carpet for him but they are a giant in world football and no player is given that kind of treatment without earning it first. Lukaku had the chance to fight for the heart of Chelsea fans around the world who loved him before he even pulled on the shirt, but he chose to take the easy way out. Lukaku will play well at Everton and will be very good at the Merseyside club, but he could have been great at Chelsea.
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