Liverpool legend in favour of Tuchel’s ‘excellent’ Lukaku decision

Liverpool legend Ian Rush has backed Thomas Tuchel as he made an “excellent decision” to drop Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku.

The forward returned to Chelsea during the summer. They broke their club-record transfer fee to sign him from Inter Milan for around £97.5m.

Lukaku has missed games through injury this term as he has scored eight times from his 20 appearances across all competitions.

Five managers who signed former team-mates with varying results

Last month, Lukaku admitted that he was “not happy” with his situation at Chelsea. He was subsequently dropped from the squad that faced Liverpool in the Premier League on January 2.

The Belgium international has since apologised and he has started Chelsea’s last two games. Liverpool icon Rush believes Tuchel was right to drop Lukaku:

“There’s no one bigger than the club, that’s what it is all about,” Rush said (as quoted by Football Italia).

“The club comes first and I thought it was an excellent decision by him [Tuchel] to drop him. Lukaku will come back stronger and better. Lukaku has learned his lesson.

“If there are individuals that think they are better than the team, that creates problems but I think the coach nailed it, it was an excellent choice from him.”

Elsewhere, Tuchel has hinted that Chelsea are “looking into the market” for new signings:

“We are discussing and are in talks with the board and the scouting. As we always do, we are checking the possibilities,” admitted Tuchel.

“We are looking into the market and the possibilities. Not under the highest pressure but things have to make sense for us.”

Instead of bringing in a new signing, Chelsea could recall Emerson from his loan spell at Lyon in France, but Tuchel was coy when asked if they could look to go down this route.

“I will not give you any details but I will not hide from the fact we have a long-term injury with Ben Chilwell. Of course, we know and appreciate Emi as a player and a person in general.”