‘You can’t go back to Roman for it again! – Glen Johnson reveals biggest Tuchel mistakes that is costing Chelsea team
According to former Chelsea right-back Glen Johnson, Chelsea’s decision to re-sign Romelu Lukaku for nearly £97.5million now looks like a “mistake”.
However, Lukaku scored 64 goals in 95 games for the Nerazzurri before returning to Stamford Bridge last summer but has scored just eight goals in 24 appearances for Chelsea this season.
Johnson believes Lukaku doesn’t suit Chelsea’s style of play and thinks Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel will have to change Chelsea’s style of play to suit Lukaku for the Belgian to become successful.
“Looking at it now, it does look like a mistake; not so much because of the player himself… but Liverpool just signed (Luis) Diaz who’s a goal machine for the third of the money,” Johnson told the Mirror.
“I think for £100m and the way that it’s going at the moment, of course it looks like a mistake, but I still think Lukaku’s a good player, I’m just not so sure he suits the way Chelsea play.
“Of course he can turn it around [but] the last thing any Chelsea fan wants to hear is that you’ve signed a striker for £100m and he’s struggling to score.”
Asked if Chelsea need to look at another striker this summer, Johnson suggested it may be tough for Tuchel to persuade club owner Abramovich to sanction another big-money move if the Lukaku deal continues to backfire.
“It’s a strange one – put it this way, if you’re the manager and you go to Roman and ask for another £100m, I wouldn’t want to be in that boardroom!
“Look, they knew what they were signing. We all know what Lukaku is good at, and we know what he’s not good at, so there’s no surprises there. So they obviously bought him knowing what he’s good at, so they need to play that way for him.
“He’s not a quick striker who’s going to stand… and then fly past two or three players and score – he’s a big, strong striker that needs people around him.
“They knew the system they wanted to play when they signed him, so you need to try to get to that as quick as possible. He is a good player, but they seem to be playing all differently, it’s hard to put your finger on it.”
“I think they’re doing enough,” Johnson added. “Look at [Hakim] Ziyech against Tottenham, he was unbelievable. That wordlie (goal) for example, that’s stuff that he can do, and I don’t think Lukaku can do that.
“The way he plays, he has that control in certain games – you need the players to do that, but there’s times he’s whipping the ball in and Lukaku’s not getting there… it’s really hard because Ziyech is obviously a good player; Hudson-Odoi, I think he will be a top, top player, but I just think they need to find a way to play together because at the minute, it all looks disjointed for me.”