‘I don’t understand’ – Tuchel slammed as striker ‘has no future’ at Chelsea

Thomas Tuchel has been criticised for trying to “change the way Romelu Lukaku plays the game” as the striker “has no future” at Chelsea.

The Belgium international returned to Chelsea last summer from Inter Milan, They paid around £97m to bring him back to the Premier League.

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Lukaku has struggled to adapt to Tuchel’s preferred style of play this season. In recent weeks, he has played second fiddle to Kai Havertz.

The forward has not started any of Chelsea’s last three Premier League games. Havertz meanwhile is in great form as he has grabbed four goals and an assist from his last three league outings.

Former England international Carlton Palmer has waded in on Lukaku’s situation:

“I don’t think he’s got a future under Tuchel, I really don’t,” Palmer told talkSPORT.

“When he first came back, he started the season on fire. He is an absolutely fantastic footballer, and I just don’t understand why a manager would sign a player for that amount of money and then try and change the way he plays the game.

“That’s what they’ve tried to do at Chelsea and that’s why you haven’t seen the best of Romelu Lukaku.

“You’ve seen the way Lukaku plays, he plays on the last man’s shoulder, he likes the ball to come quick and early down the sides to use his pace.

“But Tuchel doesn’t want that, he wants his front man to play a little bit differently and he’s not so fussed about the volume of goals he scores, as long as the team scores and wins.

“At the start of the season everyone was saying Chelsea are going to be challenging for the Premier League title, then all of a sudden Lukaku has hardly been in games, even though he’s such a handful.”

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