Jamie Carragher has laid the blame squarely at the feet of Romelu Lukaku for the player’s poor form since his arrival at Chelsea last summer.
Blues boss Thomas Tuchel has been accused by some of not getting the most out of the Belgian international but Carragher has questioned the striker’s ability to perform at the highest level:
“His goal record is fantastic, if you look at his numbers. But I always feel whenever we’ve spoken about Lukaku, he gets a lot of goals but there’s always been a ‘but’. Even his record in the Premier League, if you look at the teams, it was never against the biggest teams.”
“He’s a very good player, but when you’re talking about [Karim] Benzema, when you’re talking about Harry Kane, when you’re talking about [Robert] Lewandowski, for me he’s just always been a bit below that. I don’t question the manager at all in that situation.”
While Carragher may be right that Lukaku has never really produced the goods in the Premier League or the Champions League, his goalscoring record at both club and international level is up there with the very best.
Sometimes, transfers don’t work out for whatever reason, and singling out Lukaku as the only one at fault for his performances this season is rather harsh. He hasn’t adapted to Chelsea’s style of play but he is hardly the only striker in recent years where that has been the case. You don’t have to look very far to see another example in Timo Werner.
Saying all that, though, Lukaku has still been a big disappointment and it seems increasingly likely that his future lies away from Stamford Bridge.
