Romelu Lukaku has been urged to apologise to fans, team-mates, his manager and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich after he gave a 'disrespectful' interview revealing he is not satisfied with life back at Stamford Bridge.
The Belgian striker, who returned to Chelsea this summer in a £98million move, gave an interview to Italian TV three weeks ago but following publication on Thursday night, there was a huge reaction to Lukaku's damning comments.
'Physically I am fine. But I'm not happy with the situation at Chelsea,' Lukaku told Sky in Italy.
'Tuchel has chosen to play with another system – I won't give up, I'll be professional. I am not happy with the situation but I am professional – and I can't give up now.'
He added: 'I really, genuinely from the bottom of my heart hope to come back to Inter, not at the end of my career, but while I am still at the level to win more trophies.'
Trevor Sinclair was left totally bemused by Lukaku's comments and labelled the No 9 'disrespectful'.
He told talkSPORT: 'I'm in absolute shock. I was at Chelsea's win against Villa and I watched him in the warm up.
'I was intrigued because he was out for a while and wondered what his mood was going to be like – he was smiling, laughing, he looked like he was loving being back in the Chelsea squad.
'For him to come out with those comments, I think he should be apologising to the Chelsea fans. That's so disrespectful to the Chelsea fans.
'I think that's so disrespectful to the Chelsea manager. I'd be astounded if he hadn't had a conversation with Thomas Tuchel about this. He might not have got the answer he wanted but you don't come out in public and say this.
'I think it's disrespectful to his team-mates and I think it's disrespectful to the owner.'
The interview took place around three weeks ago and Lukaku has scored in two consecutive Premier League games since then, which may have calmed his frustrations.
Yet it is understood the 28-year-old has privately expressed his concerns to Tuchel in recent weeks.
Tuchel's press conference on Friday was dominated by Lukaku's comments - but the German was keen to play down talk of a rift in the ranks.
'He should know what kind of value he has when he speaks out with messages like this,' Tuchel said.
'I don't like it, of course. It brings noise we don't need, which is not helpful.'
Tuchel added: 'On the other side we don't want to make more out of it than it actually is. It's very easy to take lines out of context, it's very easy to shorten lines, make headlines, and later realise that it's not bad, it's not what you meant.
'I don't see him unhappy. I feel the exact opposite if you ask me yesterday morning. If there is something, it's behind closed doors for sure.'
Lukaku's comments couldn't come at worse possible time for Tuchel, whose team are in the midst of a worrying slump that has seen them lose pace with league leaders Manchester City.
A 1-1 draw with Brighton, coupled with City's 1-0 win at Brentford, saw Chelsea slip eight points behind their title rivals with the same number of games played.
Chelsea host title rivals Liverpool on Sunday.
Comments
Leave a Comment