Thomas Tuchel: Lukaku is NOT yet finished at Chelsea

Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel still believes it is not yet over for Romelu Lukaku at the club.

The 29-year-old Belgian striker returned to Stamford Bridge after the London club completed his signature from Serie A champions Inter Milan, for €100 million (€115 million) in August, 2021.

Lukaku had won the Scudetto with Inter and was also the highest goal-scorer for Inter Milan in their 2021 Serie A triumph.

However, following a bright start to life back at the London club, Lukaku has found life difficult at the bridge in the last few months.

Romelu Lukaku has failed to start a Premier League match for Thomas Tuchel's side in two months with 22-year-old German attacker Kai Havertz getting the nod over the former in Tuchel's attack.

However, Tuchel's recent comments on the striker shows that the 48-year-old German is refusing to give up on the Belgian beast, insisting that the Blues can still enjoy success with Lukaku up front.

"For us it is clear, we can play with Romelu and we can be very strong with Romelu and we proved it.

"And we will prove it again if he stays involved mentally. He can grow in this situation and come back stronger." , Tuchel said.

"For sure, it is a disappointing situation for him and not what we expected, but it is not finished and we will not give in.

"We never give in with any players and we never give up. We will push him, we will push as far as we can and as long as the player continues with the mentality that is needed to bring a team forward, he can still be a crucial player.

"He has support to try to reach this kind of level again. It is in him and it is in us. He is in the right place still and there’s things for all of us to improve. We won’t give up." the German added.

Along with brief spells of injuries, Lukaku's lack of game time also appears to have affected his confidence with the 28-year-old striker missing two sitters against Crystal Palace and Real Madrid in the Premier league and Champions league respectively.

Lukaku will be hoping to play a part on Wednesday night as Chelsea welcome Arsenal to Stamford bridge on April 20, in a crucial London derby in the Premier league.