Joe Cole has urged Romelu Lukaku to make the most of his Chelsea career after a difficult few months culminated in Thomas Tuchel dropping him ahead of Tuesday night’s Champions League clash with Lille.
After mustering only seven touches during Saturday’s win over Crystal Palace, Tuchel took the decision to leave the club’s record signing out of the starting lineup.
While the hectic schedule, particularly with Chelsea’s Club World Cup campaign in mind as well as Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Liverpool, may well have played a part, there is little doubt Lukaku has struggled despite some early promise.
In a League context, the 28-year-old has not scored since a 1-1 draw with Brighton at Stamford Bridge in December, while four starts in the Champions League have only yielded two goals.
In total, Lukaku has scored 10 times across 27 club appearances amid a backdrop of controversy after he vented his frustration about how he was deployed by Tuchel in an interview with Italian media.
“He can’t concentrate, he can’t hanker about what happened in Italy,” said Cole on BT Sport.
“That was a great period but he’s got a chance here to be Chelsea’s No.9.
“He’s got a chance to walk in the shoes of Didier Drogba, his hero. Diego Costa, the great number 9s we’ve seen for this club.
“I just think he needs to put it all to bed, leave the noise, just concentrate on his game.”
