(Football news) Romelu Lukaku has issued a public apology to Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel, his team-mates and supporters over his recent interview in which he expressed his desire to return to Inter Milan after just six months at Stamford Bridge. The Belgian striker said it’s up to him to “restore trust” and is now in contention for Chelsea’s Carabao Cup semi-final fixture against Tottenham after being dropped in the weekend’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool.
In an interview on the club’s website, Lukaku said “To the fans, I'm sorry for the upset that I caused. You guys know the connection that I have with this club since my teenage years, so I totally understand you guys being upset. Obviously, it's up to me now to restore your trust and I'll do my best to show commitment every day on the training ground and in the games, trying to make sure that we win games. And also to the manager, I apologise, and also to my team-mates and the board, because I think it was not the right moment also and I want to move forward from this and make sure that we start winning football games and that I perform for the team in the best manner.”
Lukaku and Tuchel had a meeting on Monday to clear the air after the striker's recent comments and the German manager said that the Belgian feels responsible and determined to "clean the mess up". Tuchel said “First of all, we were even in the background happy that we took the time that it needed to look calmly on it and talk calmly. He has apologised and is back in the squad for today's training [session] later. We have had enough time to clear the air and move on. For me, the most important thing was to understand and clearly understand and believe that it was not intentional. He did not do this intentionally to create noise in front of such a big game."
Thomas Tuchel has also revealed that Lukaku will be fined for taking part in the interview with Sky Italy. He also praised the close relationship he has with the Chelsea board after forging robust links with directors Petr Cech and Marina Granovskaia. “There will be some disciplinary actions," said Tuchel. "Something happened, he will be fined and of course, he needs to accept it. It's not about I push my opinions through or the club pushes their opinions through. We are adults and we reflect on the situation. The more the story went on, I had a clear opinion and I was happy that was OK with the club to go with it.
“We have a very open, close relationship and we can find very quick solutions, without any political interference, putting any disturbing factor aside and just looking at the isolated issue. We went from there. It was very nice to be a part of it. Between Petr, Marina and me, it was very calm, quick and open. Maybe we will still have a bit of smell still from it of course. He can handle it, but he also has no other choice. He cannot expect everybody to be super happy the very next day. But he's still our player and we have good, good reasons and a lot of reasons to make him play for us, and to convince him and to fight hard that he's our player. We're happy he's our player, we will protect him."
Also read: Was Tuchel right in axing Lukaku from the squad against Liverpool?
