The curse of the No.9 at Chelsea has resurfaced. Confidence issues seem to be an eminent issue with Chelsea’s past strikers and the situation with Romelu Lukaku is now no different. It remains one of football's great mysteries as to why so many of Chelsea’s past strikers have struggled.
For Lukaku, it’s not a lack of game time that’s hindering his performance. The rocky relationship with the fans is one factor at play here. but his performance levels have dipped to a level that supports could never have imagined when he returned to Stamford Bridge last summer.
There are calls to find a replacement in the next close-season transfer window but will that solve the attacking crisis that the Blues are seemingly regularly faced with? Harry Kane's situation at Tottenham will not be lost on Chelsea, nor Thomas Tuchel - especially following his masterful performance against Manchester City - but I’m not sure if even Alan Shearer in his heyday could solve this issue.
Tuchel is one of the most candid Chelsea managers that I have witnessed. He sees an issue and faces it head-on. He prefers to answer questions as straightforward as he can so it was no surprise that he did not swerve the issue regarding Lukaku and his anonymous performance at Crystal Palace in his post-match press conference.
When asked how to get more touches from Lukaku, he responded firmly in support of the Belgian.
“It's not what we want or Romelu wants but it's also not the time to laugh about him and makes jokes about him. He's in the spotlight but we will protect him.”
One option for Chelsea would be to cash in on their big-money purchase from last year in the summer transfer window if they can find a willing buyer at a price that makes sense. Accept any expected losses, cut ties with Lukaku and splash out on the next best thing. Kane could be a viable centre-forward option for clubs this summer if Spurs fail to finish in the top four, which is a distinct possibility given their current league position.
But just firing and hiring in that position will not solve all of Chelsea’s problems. The issue on Saturday at Selhurst Park felt as much systemic as it was down to the individual and it will take some time to find that perfect fit for Tuchel’s setup.
Lukaku has not lived up to the price tag but he has also not been given the requisite level of patience from the fanbase. I guess an unsanctioned interview claiming he wants to be somewhere else would do that.
Chelsea could look at the option of bringing in another striker but I’m not entirely sure that it will be beneficial. We cannot keep waiting for a striker to reach their best form and we also can’t keep kicking them to the curb after one season. Something has to give here.
The Blues' interest in Kane is obvious given his pedigree. He was initially mooted as one of their preferred strikers for last summer alongside Erling Haaland and Lukaku but there was a pretty wide acceptance that he would end up at City by the end of the window.
With the benefit of hindsight, it would have made sense to go Kane, but the difficulties of negotiating the right price with Daniel Levy coupled with how his season has gone so far, there is every likelihood he would have shared the same fate as Lukaku. The England captain has only scored seven Premier League goals to date. Two of those came over the weekend at City. Would the Chelsea faithful have had more patience with him given he would have been acquired at an even greater cost?
Or would Tuchel have played more to his strengths in the end? Alan Shearer spoke on Match of the Day questioning why the Chelsea boss doesn't tailor tactics towards his most expensive player.
"How can you pay that much money and not play to his strengths?"
To be quite frank, there is no way that Marina Granovskaia would sell Lukaku this summer. From a purely business perspective, he is a £97m investment and Chelsea must find a way to reap the rewards from it. Forget about signing a new striker. Forget about the Sky Italia interview. We need to take Tuchel's advice and protect him. Get his confidence up and hope for a better outcome.
Or maybe Tuchel needs to take the advice of an elite former marksmen in Shearer and find alternative ways of playing to his strengths?
He’s signed a five-year deal. This is only year one. Let bygones be bygones.
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