Romelu Lukaku is ‘£100m wasted’ because Thomas Tuchel uses him incorrectly at Chelsea

Chelsea have ‘wasted’ £100m on singing Romelu Lukaku because manager Thomas Tuchel doesn’t trust him enough, according to former Liverpool and England striker Michael Owen.

The 28-year-old returned for a second spell at Stamford Bridge in a high-profile transfer from Inter Milan last summer, and seemed to hit the ground running when he scored three goals in his first three appearances of the season. Since then, though, the Belgian has struggled significantly, scoring only twice more in fourteen subsequent Premier League appearances.

Lukaku was dropped by Tuchel for the Champions League victory over Lille on Tuesday night, and Owen told BT Sport that a lack of trust from the manager could be behind Lukaku’s poor form.

‘If you’re going to spend £100m on me, and I’ve been scoring goals all the time for Inter Milan, surely you’re going to back me through thick and thin?’, Owen said. ‘If you’re my manager, I’m thinking “I’m not going to score for three or four games on occasion, but don’t drop me” because you can totally lose somebody like that. And that’s just £100m wasted’

‘If you show someone love and trust, you’ll be paid back in spades later on. You can’t spend that much money and then within the blink of an eye just not do anything.’

Fellow pundit Rio Ferdinand also explained his theory that Lukaku and the Chelsea system are not compatible, and said that Tuchel should have done more to accommodate such an expensive signing.

‘The problem right now is that the way Chelsea play may not suit the way Lukaku plays,’ Ferdinand said. ‘But if you spend £100m on someone, you’ve got to maybe adapt that to suit him. I’m not talking wholesale changes but adapt it a little bit so you get the best out of that £100m asset. Something’s not