Thomas Tuchel tells Romelu Lukaku what he must do to save his Chelsea career amid new challenge

Thomas Tuchel has put the ball in Romelu Lukaku's court concerning his Chelsea future, and laid down a challenge for the Belgian in doing so. The Blues boss believes that Lukaku can still become a crucial figure for Chelsea despite a tepid return to life at Stamford Bridge.

The former Manchester United star was signed from Inter Milan for £97.5million in August in a move that was seen by many as Chelsea landing the final piece of the jigsaw to challenge Manchester City and Liverpool for the Premier League title. Tuchel was always more measured in assessing Chelsea's chances, but also probably expected more from the striker than his explosive interview released over the festive period.

The 48-year-old coach has been happy to provide Lukaku with more opportunities but the form of Kai Havertz leading the frontline has been impossible to ignore following the club's return from the Club World Cup. Nevertheless, Tuchel remains adamant Chelsea can prove Lukaku's quality and any summer transfer would be a decision for the striker to make.

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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