Romelu Lukaku has just ‘six weeks to save his Chelsea career’ after his latest miss in their FA Cup semi-final win over Crystal Palace, says former Blues hero Joe Cole.
The west London club reached their third straight FA Cup final on Sunday, with second-half goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount seeing off Patrick Vieira’s spirited Eagles at Wembley.
However, one of few sour notes for Thomas Tuchel’s side came when Lukaku spurned a glorious chance to end his month-long goal drought late on.
Romelu Lukaku has just ‘six weeks to save his Chelsea career’, says Blues hero Joe Cole
Timo Werner pulled the ball across goal and the Belgian sent an effort straight onto the post from close range, meaning his wait to hit the back of the net again goes on.
His last goal came in Chelsea’s FA Cup quarter-final win over Middlesbrough on March 19, but he had two other big chances to end that when he wasted a couple of headers in their recent Champions League defeat at home to Real Madrid.
And following his latest setback at Wembley, Cole had some harsh words for Lukaku, who he believes is now fighting for his Blues future.
The former Chelsea winger said on ITV Sport: ‘Lukaku has six weeks to save his Chelsea career. You look at Werner and he doesn’t give up. Lukaku wants to be that focal point but he missed a chance.
‘When it’s not going for you, it’s not going for you.’
Cole’s co-pundit Ian Wright then added: ‘When you’re going through what Lukaku is going through, this is the type of chance you want. He’s left footed, take it with your left foot.’
Lukaku missed a big chance to end his goal drought in the Blues’ win over Crystal Palace
The Belgian is enduring a difficult spell right now, and Cole feels he is fighting for his future
Manchester United legend Roy Keane also chipped in by saying: ‘How badly do you really want to score? It’s obviously his mindset, it’s clearly not right.’
Cole then continued: ‘People saw Lukaku as the missing piece of the jigsaw [when he returned to Chelsea last summer], it didn’t happen, but it can come back as quickly as it goes. Football can change in one game.’
Before Keane asked again: ‘How badly does he want to save his Chelsea career?’.
Lukaku has suffered a momentous fall from grace at Chelsea over the past six months, which has resulted in Tuchel preferring to deploy Kai Havertz as a false nine at the pinpoint of his attack.
However, the former Chelsea winger reassured him that football can change ‘in one game’
Cole’s co-pundit Roy Keane also assessed that Lukaku’s current mindset is ‘clearly not right’
Before Sunday’s semi-final, the Blues head coach claimed his £100million striker is not in the right condition to start right now.
He is not fit enough for the intensity of our game in an FA Cup semi-final.
‘It’s not easy to come into a game such as this with so much riding on it after a spell out with injury.
‘It’s just a case of him not having as much minutes recently as the other players, his match fitness is not quite there otherwise there’s a big chance that he would have started today.’