Why Tuchel is hoping that Lukaku will be final piece in his jigsaw
►Chelsea head coach accepts pressure that comes with huge fee paid for striker in search for more goals and title challenge
Thomas Tuchel was unequivocal: he expected Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea’s new No9, to have an “impact”, score goals, be “the perfect fit” and for him as head coach to be under pressure to make that happen. “I am not hiding from it,” Tuchel said.
“Once you bring players with the amount of money [spent], but also the status and the quality [of Lukaku], then of course expectations do not get lower. It’s the same for us. My expectations do not get lower, so let’s be positive about it.”
In fact, Tuchel has crackled with positivity since the late January morning he was appointed by Chelsea, flew to London, immediately took his first training session and 24 hours later was on the touchline at Stamford Bridge. It grew from there, with Chelsea rescuing a top-four finish and topping it all by winning the Champions League. Now they have smashed the club transfer record by bringing back Lukaku for £97.5 million. It is all the more stark because so far it is the only money they have spent under Tuchel, although the chase continues for Sevilla defender Jules Kounde.
Improving a team without spending, as Tuchel quite clearly has done up until now, has its own challenges and it is probable that had the German fallen short last season and Chelsea were not in the Champions League this campaign he would not have stayed, and certainly would not have signed a new three-year, much-enhanced contract.
But now big money is being committed – as it was under Frank Lampard last summer – and, especially with the acquisition of a top-level striker, Tuchel will be expected to not only mount a title challenge, but either topple Manchester City or go extremely close. “It does not work without quality. We are not doing magic on the sidelines,” Tuchel protested, defending the scale of the fee paid for Lukaku.
Throughout his years of ownership, Roman Abramovich has always craved a big-name, worldclass striker, but rarely has it worked. Indeed, the Russian billionaire had to be convinced by Jose Mourinho to sign the most successful forward bought under him, Didier Drogba from Marseille, who was relatively unknown, at a time when Chelsea had already signed Hernan Crespo, had wanted Thierry Henry and the pursuit was under way for Andriy Shevchenko. Abramovich became similarly fixated with Fernando Torres and it
is undoubtedly true that the failure to get the best out of some of those star names damaged a succession of coaches from Mourinho through to Andre Villas-boas and beyond. Alvaro Morata anyone? Radamel Falcao (whose knees were shot)? Gonzalo Higuain? Maybe only Diego Costa has been a success since Drogba.
It is with this brief history lesson, and one he is well aware of himself, that Lukaku is expected to step on to the pitch at the Emirates tomorrow to make his second debut for Chelsea in a London derby against Arsenal. Whether Lukaku succeeds will not define Tuchel’s time at the club – he can already point to a Champions League trophy – but it may contribute heavily to his longevity. The signs are good.
Lukaku is 28. He is at his peak. He is also a far more mature, rounded player than the one who left Manchester United two years ago feeling bruised at the criticism he had faced. Lukaku is also already aware of the Chelsea environment and, crucially – as Tuchel relayed – he really wanted the move.
“How much does the player want to play for Chelsea? How much of the story does he want to write at this club? Is this the next step on his way to [somewhere else]?” Tuchel mused. “Or is this like, ‘Yes, I would love to but I am happy where I am’ or is this, ‘Yes, this comes at the right moment and I will actually walk to you’. This is what Romelu transported to us. Is Romelu the missing piece? We hope, we hope.”
The statistics over the past three seasons in particular – under Tuchel, Lampard and also Maurizio Sarri – show that Chelsea have lacked the consistent goalscorer who will make them title challengers again. They have simply not scored enough goals in the Premier League – last season it was four fewer than ninth-placed Leeds United, Jorginho top-scoring with seven (all penalties), the lowest tally in a season in which Chelsea were not relegated and joint-lowest since the Second World War. And that after spending £180 million on attacking talent.
“Of course we expect goals,” Tuchel said about Lukaku. “And why? Because he delivered goals everywhere he played… and I am convinced he will have a positive impact on Timo Werner, on Kai Havertz, on Christian Pulisic, and the guys who play with him and around him and will open spaces and attract focus from the defenders. That we demand goals and he demands goals is obvious.
“So at the moment, it is more fun than pressure. It looks like the perfect fit and it’s our job, of course, to bring out the best of this group.”