Romelu Lukaku was advised not to join Chelsea by Thierry Henry, who claims he feared he wouldn’t fit into Thomas Tuchel’s system
Former Belgium assistant coach Thierry Henry told Romelu Lukaku not to go to Chelsea, as Henry felt he would struggle with Thomas Tuchel’s pressing style of play.
The 29-year-old was acquired by Chelsea during the summer transfer window of 2021–2022 for a massive sum of 97.5million Pounds. Aiming to break the club’s “number nine curse,” he arrived at Stamford Bridge following a successful season with Inter Milan where he helped them win the Scudetto.
Nevertheless, the former Everton striker failed horribly, scoring just 15 goals in 44 games across all competitions, and was later loaned back to the Italian team.
Lukaku also criticised Tuchel’s playing style in an interview, which led to controversy and forced the striker to issue an apology. Hendry described his conversation with Lukaku to CBS Sports’ Golazo programme (h/t. Daily Mail) in the following way:
‘’We had a discussion when he went to Chelsea and I told him he’s going to find it difficult to play at Chelsea, and it turned out to be the case.”
Thierry Henry is entirely accurate in his assessment as there was a shift in the management style as well as Lukaku’s move from Serie A to the Premier League.
This also had an impact on how he played because he operated differently in each team and might have found it challenging to perform under Tuchel’s system.
Nonetheless, Lukaku is a seasoned striker who has played under several managers, so he shouldn’t have had too much trouble adjusting to Tuchel’s style of play.
The decision to sign the 29-year-old, however, did turn out to be a huge failure. The exact cause cannot be pinpointed but it just didn’t seem right for him under the German manager towards the end of last season.
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- Chelsea set to battle Tottenham for Brighton striker Evan Ferguson
It remains to be seen what happens to his future at Stamford Bridge now. We will have a huge decision to make this summer when his loan deal at Inter Milan expires. Flipping him for money seems like an obvious choice for some but there would be nothing better if Potter can somehow mould him into a forward who can satisfy our No. 9 requirement.
We clearly need a proper striker and what better solution than a player already in our ranks? Of course, it seems a hard sell but it’s not like Lukaku isn’t a good player. And that is why we have coaches on huge wages – to hone players and fit them into the team.
