Romelu Lukaku has been told he has ‘six weeks to save his Chelsea career after another unconvincing display in the FA Cup semi-final.
The second-most expensive signing – behind only Jack Grealish - in the history of English football after completing a £98million move from Inter last year has become a bit-part player at the Blues. The Belgian international has not started a Premier League game in almost two months and was also almost exclusively used as a substitute in the Champions League.
Lukaku had started all four FA Cup matches for the Blues – all against lower league opposition – in which he had netted three goals but he was tellingly dropped out of the semi-final triumph over Crystal Palace. He has not scored a Premier League goal this calendar year and his struggles have spiralled in recent months.
The striker was introduced as a late substitute for Kai Havertz at Wembley after the Blues had gone two goals up in what was almost a symbolic substitution. Lukaku had a guilt-edged chance to add a third goal for the Blues but his wayward strike from point-blank range hit the post and was cleared.
Explaining his absence ahead of the match, Blues boss Thomas Tuchel explained: "He's not fit enough to play 90 minutes, not fit enough for the intensity of our game, it's as easy as that. He had an injury, he missed minutes, so his match fitness isn't there, otherwise, there's a big chance he'd be playing today." Instead of Lukaku, Chelsea started with their preferred front three of Mason Mount, Havertz and Timo Werner.
Former Chelsea star Joe Cole then said after the game that Lukaku now had the rest of the campaign 'to save his career' at the club. The former attacker explained that everything seemed to be going wrong for the striker at the moment, but it was not too late to transform his fortunes.
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Cole explained on ITV Sport after the match: "He's got six weeks to save his Chelsea career if he wants it. You look at Timo Werner who doesn't give up and when he doesn't score a goal he's offering something else. With Lukaku he wants to be that focal point but he missed a chance and we were in the studio [saying] if it's not going for you, it's not going for you. He gets it all wrong, opens his body up and hits the post. And he will be gutted for himself because he's better than that."
Cole's former pundit Roy Keane argued: "He's got to make a change though. It's got to go back to the player. How badly does he want to save his Chelsea career?" It was another tough after for the striker and he is playing with seemingly rock-bottom confidence levels.
