Romelu Lukaku was completely invisible in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace yesterday, the latest sign that his move to the Blues might have been a mistake.
The 28-year-old Belgian forward joined the Blues in a deal worth around €113m last summer from Inter, breaking the hearts of Nerazzurri fans as their star forward departed following their return to the top. He was apologetic for the move and suggested that it was only because Chelsea were close to his heart, but things have not gone as planned.
Lukaku has only scored five goals in 17 Premier League appearances this season, with his last goal coming in a 1-1 draw against Brighton back in December. He was hardly more prolific in the Champions League either, scoring only two goals against Zenit St. Petersburg in his four group stage appearances.
The former Everton and Manchester United man also caused controversy in December last year after an interview was released where he apologised to Inter fans again for joining Chelsea and suggested that he would be returning to the Lombardy capital at some point in the future. He later had to apologise for these statements, both to his teammates and the fans.
The latest statistic which highlights Lukaku’s difficult position in West London is the number of touches taken during his 90 minutes of action against Crystal Palace yesterday; he touched the ball only seven times, and only one of these came in the attacking third.
Other stats also underline the Belgian forward’s tough season under Thomas Tuchel. His expected goals per 90 minutes has dropped from 0.71 last season to 0.34 this campaign, and he’s only taking 2.14 shots per 90 compared to 2.78 per 90 in Inter’s title winning season.
Lukaku is also much less involved in general play; he attempted 23.9 passes per 90 minutes under Conte in the Lombardy capital last year but only 17.3 per 90 this campaign under Tuchel, so it’s not even like the Belgian is dropping into deeper positions in order to join the build-up play. His drop in creativity can also be seen with his shot-creating actions, which dropped from 3.56 per 90 last year to 2.29 per 90 this campaign.
All of these stats show how Lukaku has significantly regressed this season in West London, both in goal output and attacking production. With his contract running until 2026, he has a number of years to turn things around, but for now things are looking grim.
He has not regressed ,he is the same Seria A Lukaku….just that the level in Epl is higher and he can’t flow with it .
Remember he ran away from United after being so poor….
The level in EPL is higher…
wizzy shut up. the difference is not that great stop acting like other issues are not causing his problems.
@dizzy he can stay in serie-a with other team and still regressed. Its not the quality of the league.rather, it is a play style of the team which suits to his characteristics. In fact, I can say had he stay with Inzaghi’s Inter, he would not repeat the last season’s performance
To wizzy: level is not good in premier, for example ramsey in serie a was nothing but in premier he is mega superstar
How are the EPL teams competing in the champions League whereas Seria teams ain’t??
Guys it is about the system , Lukaku was good enough for Conte’s style it is not that he is not capable of Premier League is Everton in another league , He was shining in his time , Lukaku would love to play 2 Man upfront and 5 midfielders supporting him , We all saw how he formed deadly partnership with Lautaro , At Chelsea the formation and tactics are very different whereby he is being deployed as lone striker supported by Wingers in either side Ziyech / Mount .
When I see the ongoing articles about Conte, even though he’s no longer a Serie A manager, it usually comes with the excuse this site is about Italian football and Conte is Italian. Okay let’s give FI that one. So what excuse would be given for why these never-ending articles about Lukaku and Ronaldo keep coming up? I don’t see Sky Sports website writing articles about Mourinho, and he’s easy fodder for the press.
Wizzy@
Kind of weird that almost all strikers that played in Spain,italy and England all says that serie A is the hardest league for a striker.
The level overall are better in England at the moment clearly but that level of that a guy that dominated in Italy are so much weaker that he can’t score in England are ridiculous.
Articles about England are fine even vital since England and Italy will be dominating soccer for a while. Iberia was a flash in the pan and now back where they always were – midtable, and Germany is always consistent with singly Bayen but it’s really England and Italy now up to 10 years with both these 2 countries having at least 4-6 power house clubs so keep the articles coming, it’s great.