Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel says the focus on striker Romelu Lukaku is “sometimes not fair”.
The Chelsea boss accepted that players who command a large transfer fee will face scrutiny, but emphasised there are no hard feelings between himself and Lukaku, who has struggled for form in recent weeks.
“I know he is an important player,” Tuchel said of Lukaku. “If you pay a lot of money these days for one single player, there’s a lot of focus on the player.
“If you allow yourself to zoom a little bit out, he played a lot of matches from the start for us, consecutive matches.”
After scoring on his second Premier League debut for the club against Arsenal, Lukaku went on to play in Chelsea’s next seven league fixtures before suffering a sprain. The Belgian has scored 10 times in 28 appearances in all competitions so far this season.
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Tuchel went on to compare Lukaku’s struggles with Chelsea vice-captain Jorginho.
“We have, maybe a little bit, the same situation for example with Jorginho, who is one of our captains and did not play from the beginning lately because we feel he is a little mentally tired.
“But the focus is hugely on Romelu which I can understand. But the situation is more or less the same like for Jorginho and that sometimes is not fair and sometimes it’s a bit too much. Both of them understand themselves as team players.
Tuchel downplayed any notion of there being a rift between himself or Lukaku.
“The things inside (the club) are very clear and the decisions are made clear. The players accept (them) and once you play for Chelsea, you accept that the team goes first. That is why there are no hard feelings, not from Romelu, not from me and not from anybody else.”
A return for Reece James?
Defender Reece James has been an impactful player for Chelsea this season, having scored five times and provided six assists in all competitions. The 22-year-old suffered a hamstring injury in December though which has since kept him on the sidelines.
However, Tuchel did not rule out the possibility of James returning for the Carabao Cup final to face Liverpool.
“He looked brilliant in the last two training sessions. Let’s wait another session and let’s see if I am crazy enough to just put him on the pitch or if the reasonable side of me wins in the end,” Tuchel said.
“There is still two days to go and then we will take the decision.”
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