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.