No matter what happens, no-one will look at Romelu Lukaku’s first season back at Chelsea fondly. But the Wembley winner he was cruelly denied in February could arrive in the FA Cup final on Saturday, and that could be evidence enough that this is a marriage worth fighting for.
Very few would have the gall to claim Lukaku’s return to Chelsea has been a success. Admittedly we had very – possibly unreasonably – high expectations. But Chelsea needed a striker to finish all the chances they were creating, bought one of the best around, and we all fell hook, line, and sinker for what has turned out to be an imperfect marriage.
Whether you believe it’s been his teammates, Thomas Tuchel, that interview, the system, Lukaku’s seemingly wafer-thin confidence, or – more likely – a combination of many things that have caused problems, no matter the caveats or how you dress it up, the result has been disappointing. Eight Premier League goals from 27 appearances is not good enough for a £100m striker. He was supposed to lead Chelsea to the title.
But it’s not been all bad; in a way that suggests this union isn’t an entirely lost cause.
It seems daft now to suggest Liverpool or Manchester City would ever have been concerned about Chelsea being genuine title contenders, but Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp must have watched Lukaku’s second debut against Arsenal with apprehension. The Belgian did exactly what he was bought to do that day, leaving the field with defenders battered and bruised and a goal to his name. A brace against Aston Villa followed soon after, before he opened his Champions League account for the club in their first group game against Zenit St Petersburg. It was all going swimmingly.
And in the last week, we’ve again seen something resembling the Inter Milan iteration of Lukaku. He’s scored three in two but his influence has been greater than that. His display against an admittedly very poor Leeds side was a far cry from his seven-touch…
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