Chelsea: Romelu Lukaku’s comments were unprofessional and detrimental

Romelu Lukaku’s return to Chelsea was something straight out of a movie script. The Belgian who dreamed of lighting up Stamford Bridge as a youngster made his long-awaited return to his boyhood club this summer when the Blues spent £97 million to sign him from Inter Milan. The club-record signing was meant to elevate Chelsea into the upper echelons of English and European football, but things have not gone according to plan in the first four months. Another COVID-19 outbreak across the globe and a plethora of injury issues have seen the Blues fall from grace over the last few weeks. They went from top of the Premier League to eight points behind Manchester City in the blink of an eye and a last-minute Zenit equalizer saw Chelsea finish second in Group H after controlling its own destiny heading into the final UCL matchday.

Thomas Tuchel has struggled to get his team firing on all cylinders once again as the situation seemingly continues to worsen. January is a crucial month in the grand scheme of things as each result will impact the remainder of the campaign. However, in the face of adversity during the Blues’ toughest stretch of the season, their superstar decided to make a series of unprofessional comments in an interview with Sky Sports Italia.

Romelu Lukaku’s comments regarding Chelsea and manager Thomas Tuchel were unprofessional and could be detrimental to the team in the long run

Context is important in every situation, so instead of turning on Lukaku as many Chelsea supporters have already done, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt in this scenario. As someone who has experience interviewing athletes, these things don’t always come up at the player’s request. The interview—which is in Italian—does not have a ton of context that goes along with it. The date in which the discussion took place is unknown, as are the questions asked to Lukaku during the entirety of the talk, at this moment in time. Therefore, automatically assuming the worst is not exactly giving the Belgian a fair shake.

All of that being said, these comments were incredibly unprofessional from someone of Lukaku’s status. The 28-year-old was brought in to be a leader in a young dressing room and he’s gone and done the worst thing possible. Suffice it to say, the former Inter Milan man is not setting a good example for his teammates. Lukaku has been around the professional game long enough to know that making emotional comments about one’s current situation and manager are unnecessary and immature. He went on to admit that he and Tuchel have had many discussions recently, which is a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, it should have never come to this, no matter how frustrated Lukaku was with his current situation at the time the interview took place.

The dream start that began with Lukaku kissing the badge upon his return has now soured as his comments criticizing the manager’s tactics have gone public. Chelsea fans online are already turning on the star striker—not that they’re the most sensible bunch—and the cracks are beginning to show. During one of the most decisive periods of the entire season, the Blues need to come together (Lukaku included) to avoid another catastrophic turn of events at the club. Chelsea has the recipe for long-term success in a talented squad and world class manager. Things cannot be allowed to boil over, as they did with Frank Lampard, under the German.

In the end, people are going to make the most of Lukaku’s comments. They’ll be a thing of the past in a few days’ time, especially considering another noteworthy event will grab headlines at Chelsea sooner rather than later. The emotional responses continue to flow in and while Lukaku isn’t solely responsible for the outrage, his immature comments set off this chain reaction.

What do you make of Lukaku’s comments? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!