Alan Shearer has criticised Romelu Lukaku for going public with his frustrations at Chelsea and believes Thomas Tuchel ‘has probably done the right thing’ by leaving the striker on the sidelines for the time being.
Lukaku, 28, who joined Chelsea from Inter Milan for a fee of £97.5million last summer, revealed he ‘was not happy’ with his situation in west London in an explosive interview released by Sky Italia at the weekend.
The Belgian also made no secret of his ambition to one day return to Inter which, unsurprisingly, hit a nerve at Stamford Bridge and Tuchel subsequently left the Blues’ record signing out of his squad to take on Premier League title rivals Liverpool.
Speaking after Sunday’s thrilling 2-2 draw, the Chelsea head coach offered Lukaku a potential lifeline as he stressed that ‘there is always a way back’, despite the unwanted distraction the forward’s comments have caused at such a crucial stage of the season.
It remains to be seen whether Lukaku will return to the fold on Wednesday night when the Champions League holders do battle with Tottenham in a highly-anticipated Carabao Cup semi-final first leg.
Discussing Tuchel’s treatment of Lukaku on BBC’s Match of the Day, Newcastle and England legend Shearer said: ‘I think he [Tuchel] has probably done the right thing.
‘We don’t know what has been said behind closed doors, whether Romelu has spoken to the manager. If so, what has he said? Has he refused to apologise? Has he admitted what’s come out and it’s been taken out of context? Has he spoken to his team-mates?
‘Managing a football club is difficult enough. It’s even harder in the current circumstances as a manager doesn’t know what’s happening from day to day because of Covid-19. He doesn’t know what players he’s got.
‘To have that on top of that, another problem the manager has to deal with, he’s put his manager and his team-mates in a very, very difficult position which they didn’t need.’
Shearer, the Premier League’s all-time record goalscorer, questioned why Lukaku had opted to go public with his dissatisfaction rather making his grievances known to his manager and team-mates.
‘Whatever he thinks, he shouldn’t be talking to media outlets about it,’ Shearer added.
‘If he’s got an issue with the system, or his team-mates, or whoever that may be, or the football club, then go and tell the manager and your team-mates.
‘You shouldn’t be telling a media outlet what your problem is and what your issues are.’
On Tuchel taking into consideration the opinion of his players before leaving out Lukaku, Shearer went on: ‘I get that, I understand that and I think that’s the right decision.’
Jermaine Jenas theorised that Lukaku was never Tuchel’s signing in the first place when reflecting on the Belgian’s comments.
The ex-England midfielder said: ‘The thing that worries me out of all of the quotes is: “I’m not happy with the situation at Chelsea, that is normal. I think the coach chose to play a different system.”
‘That tells me that Thomas Tuchel didn’t want Lukaku, otherwise you’d be buying a £100million striker to build your team around him.
‘This feels like a Chelsea signing rather than a Thomas Tuchel signing and it’s obviously caused some friction between the both of them and that has then led on to a very ill-advised interview which has caused this issue.’
Another major talking point from Sunday’s heavyweight clash came in only the sixth second as Sadio Mane clattered into Cesar Azpilicueta’s face with his elbow during an aerial duel.
The Liverpool attacker was booked by referee Anthony Taylor, but Shearer felt the foul was a clear red-card offence.
‘Red card all day, every day. I don’t care whether it’s after six seconds, six minutes or 60 minutes, that’s a red card,’ Shearer said.
‘Don’t give me the rubbish that his eyes are on the ball. That doesn’t make any difference whatsoever.
‘It doesn’t matter whether he hits him with his forearm or his elbow, that, for me, is endangering an opponent and it should have been a red card.’
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