Thomas Tuchel has backed Romelu Lukaku to rediscover his best form, but insists any questions over the Chelsea star's future should be directed at him.
Lukaku only returned to Stamford Bridge last summer, signing in a deal worth a club record £97.5million.
But after getting off to a dream start, his second stint in the capital has well and truly hit the skids.
The Belgian’s last goal came in the win over Middlesbrough in the FA Cup back in March and has looked bereft of confidence in his recent cameo appearances. Against both Real Madrid and Crystal Palace Lukaku has missed good chances to get back on the scoresheet and could be in line for a start against Arsenal on Wednesday night.
Lukaku ripped the Gunners to shreds on his second debut, in arguably his best performance for the Blues since he sealed his return from Inter Milan. However, since then, there have been question marks over his long-term future, with suggestions he could yet cut short his stint back at Chelsea after just one season.
Asked whether there was a chance that he could leave this summer, Tuchel said: "That is a question you need to ask him. For us it is clear, we can play with Romelu and we can be very strong with Romelu and we proved it.
“And we will prove it if he is involved and keeps involved mentally and he stays involved in the situation to go through this he can grow from it and come back stronger.
"It is always like this and it is for sure disappointing for him and not what we expected, not what we expected at the moment, but it is not finished and we will not give in. We never give in with any players and we never give up. We will push him, we will push as far as we can and as long as the player stays involved in the mentality that is needed to bring a team forward he can still be a crucial player."
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Tuchel is adamant that Lukaku is in the right place to rediscover his best form and has claimed that Chelsea will not give up in the quest for him to get back to the top.
"It isn’t only about the person or player. It is not something you can separate all the time,” the German head coach added. “If you feel good as a person, you are better as a player. If you struggle as a player, you maybe struggle to feel the same confidence as a person. But he is trying everything.
“We are not there anymore. He does not have the influence that he had there. It was a very promising start. There has been turbulence throughout this long period of time.
“We try everything and he tries everything to reach this kind of level again. It is in him and in us. I think he is still in the right place but there are still things to improve. We will not give up."