Chelsea news: Romelu Lukaku has apologised, informs Thomas Tuchel

The manager also confirmed that the Belgian striker is in contention to return for the Blues in Wednesday's Carabao Cup game.

Romelu Lukaku in a file photo; Credit: Twitter@ChelseaFC
By Karthik Raman | Jan 4, 2022 | 2 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has informed that Romelu Lukaku has apologised for a recent controversial interview. The manager also confirmed that the Belgian striker is in contention to return for the Blues in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup game against Tottenham Hotspur. Following the latest controversy, the club-record signing was not part of Sunday’s 2-2 Premier League draw with Liverpool. Since then, Tuchel has held talks with Lukaku and has now provided an update on how the meeting went with the player.

Speaking at his media conference on Tuesday, Tuchel, as per their club’s website, said, “We are happy we took the time that it needed to look on it and to talk calmly about it. This is what we did. Romelu apologised and is back in the squad for today’s training which is later. For me, the most important thing was to clearly understand and believe that it was not intentional. He did not do this intentionally to create this kind of noise in front of a big game.”

“Secondly, it was the very first time. Before, when he seemed in his opinion to be ready to play from the start after his injury, and we thought he needed to readapt to the intensity a little bit more, there was never the slightest behaviour against the team. So it was the very first time that we actually felt in this way. And these are very important points to stay calm, understanding that it’s not as big as maybe people want it to be. It’s also not small, but it’s small enough to stay calm, to accept an apology and to move forward.”

Tuchel: Lukaku can handle it

The interview has also split fans’ opinions. It will be interesting to see what kind of reception Lukaku will get when he heads out on to the pitch. Asked about it, Tuchel said, “He is very aware of what happened and what he created and he feels the responsibility to clean the mess up,” he started.

“Maybe we will have a bit of smell still from it. He can handle it. There’s also no other choice, you cannot expect now everybody to be to be super happy the very next day, but he is still our player and we have a lot of good reasons to make him play for us and to convince him to fight hard.

“He is our player, we are happy that he’s our player, and we will protect him and in the end, it’s also very important that the stadium supports the team. Even if somebody has a different opinion on it or strongly disagrees, it is about the team in anything we do and I hope the supporters can take this also and keep on supporting the team because at the moment we need the support.”





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