Chelsea news: Lukaku set for shock Blues return with players in ‘disbelief’ over Potter call
Graham Potter’s tenure at Chelsea is at a crucial stage after his team’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday, which extended their winless streak to five games and kept them in 10th place in the Premier League standings.
The loss has increased the criticism of Potter for his team’s poor performances and style of play.
However, Chelsea will be looking to recover in their upcoming match against Leeds, a game they must win to have a chance of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
In other news, one player was surprised to be left out of the squad against Tottenham, and Romelu Lukaku is expected to return to the team at the end of the season.
All the latest developments from Stamford Bridge are available here.
Lukaku future claim made
Beppe Marotta, the head of Inter Milan, has announced that Romelu Lukaku will be returning to Chelsea in the upcoming summer, but the Belgian striker is not currently interested in making his loan move a permanent one.
Lukaku, who is 29 years old, had joined the Italian team on a season-long loan last summer. However, due to an injury sustained in August, he missed a significant portion of the first half of the season and only played once before the World Cup break.
He subsequently regained his fitness during the tournament.
“Lukaku to stay also next year? It’s too early to decide, he will return to Chelsea and we will see what’s next,” Marotta told Sky.
“Lukaku wants to stay at Inter, for sure – we know Romelu’s intention and so we will see if we can negotiate his return here.”
Although Romelu Lukaku has only scored four goals in 15 matches so far this season, he did manage to score the decisive goal in Chelsea’s first-leg tie against Porto in the Champions League last Wednesday.
Potter potential pay-out
Although Chelsea is currently facing difficulties, the club’s chairman, Todd Boehly, is not ready to give up on Graham Potter just yet.
He is willing to be patient and allow the head coach more time to improve the team’s performance. However, if there is no significant improvement in the near future, the club may decide to part ways with Potter.
If that happens, it will be an expensive decision for Chelsea as they will have to pay an estimated £50m, which would set a new record for the highest payout for a managerial dismissal.
In addition to the world-record fee of £22m paid to Brighton for his release, Potter was also given a five-year deal worth approximately £60m at Stamford Bridge.
Although Chelsea has a history of paying large sums to sacked head coaches, such as the £26.6m paid to Antonio Conte and his staff in 2018, Potter’s compensation would be nearly twice as much if his contract were terminated.
Despite his team’s recent struggles, with only two wins in their past 15 games across all competitions, Potter’s contract is unprecedented in terms of its duration and value.
Chelsea player ‘shocked’
The Chelsea players were surprised when they were not selected for the bench during the team’s loss against Tottenham on Sunday. Tottenham’s goals from Oliver Skipp and Harry Kane meant that Graham Potter’s team had gone five Premier League games without a win and were still in tenth place on the table.
This loss added to the pressure on Potter, who had been criticized for the way his team had lost their previous matches.
Potter had to make some tough decisions due to the large number of players in Chelsea’s squad.
As a result, several experienced players were left out of the team for the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Potter mentioned that Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, Carney Chukwuemeka, and David Datro Fofana were unfortunate to be left out.
Based on information from the Telegraph, at least one of the players was surprised to discover that they wouldn’t even be included as substitutes.
Chelsea’s acquisition of eight new players in January has created a difficult situation for Potter in terms of team selection, both for the starting lineup and the bench, as only Jorginho was allowed to leave.
This has resulted in some well-known players being left out of the matchday squad entirely, including Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang in recent weeks. Potter may face an even tougher decision when some of his currently unavailable players become available again.
Chelsea news: Lukaku set for shock Blues return with players in ‘disbelief’ over Potter call
