Thomas Tuchel speaking at a press conference.
Speaking in an interview, as quoted by football.london, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel reveals that he was able to resolve the issue with Romelu Lukaku easily due to Petr Cech and Marina Granovskaia.
The 28-year-old striker revealed that he wanted to return to Inter Milan and was displeased with his playing situation at Stamford Bridge. The video understandably did not go down well with anybody at the club, but Tuchel handled the issue expertly.
He dropped him from the squad against Liverpool and apparently had a chat with the striker on Monday. Since then, the club has released a video where the Belgian ace apologised for his indecent comments.
Tuchel also revealed recently that it was an easy issue to resolve, thanks to the involvement of technical advisor Petr Cech, and chief Marina Granovskaia.
“Yeah, but not extra pressure. Because the way we dealt with it (Romelu Lukaku issue), Petr and Marina and me, very calm and very quick and very open, so easy to deal with it…In moments like this, it’s necessary to take positions, and trust your leadership and to do what you do, and believe in what you do, stay focused, stay calm.
“This is what we did, and that is why, yeah, it was absolutely fine. I’m happy that we won a bit of time and calm things down, like in between the relationship between the player. And the possibility also to hear the player out and try to understand him better and move on forward.”
Cech and Granovskaia have been the centre of most transfers conducted in the past couple of seasons, and their calm nature regarding this situation eased the burden of finding a resolution on Tuchel.
Such interviews rarely happen but when they do, they need to be handled tactfully. There might be a lot of frustration and anger behind the scenes but the gaffer has not let it boil up in front of the fans or the media. He has basically not washed his dirty laundry in public, and the hierarchy has been supportive of it.
Hopefully, Lukaku has learnt from his mistake and starts playing for the badge from now on. It takes a lot to issue an apology on video, but the centre-forward has been humble to accept his fault. Chelsea fans might forgive him, but perhaps they will never forget.
However, one way of mending a bridge with the fans would be to score in the upcoming Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night.
The Belgian striker has had an affiliate with the Blues since he was a teenager, after all. And if he scores against the Lilywhites today, he will celebrate with our fans, not with Inter’s. As long as this issue doesn’t impact his showings for us, maybe we would be better off making peace with the possibility that Lukaku’s heart indeed has enough space for two different football clubs.
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