Jamie Carragher has stated that Chelsea hitman, Romelu Lukaku, is a ‘level below’ Tottenham’s Harry Kane, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (06/04/22 at 10:15 pm).
The Anfield legend was in disagreement with Micah Richards about Lukaku’s time at Chelsea and how he has performed, with the former Manchester City star claiming he is ‘low on confidence’ and ‘doesn’t feel loved’.
Despite making a big-money return to the Premier League last summer – a record-breaking £98 million transfer for the Blues (Sky Sports) – Lukaku is struggling upon his return, with only five Premier League goals to his name.
That worsened on Wednesday night when he came off the bench to miss a guilt edge chance during Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the first leg of their quarter-final Champions League tie.
Whilst that one moment will be highlighted, throughout the season, Lukaku has struggled big time, on top of that now-infamous interview he did with Sky Italia, as Carragher and Richards disagreed about his situation.
“At this moment in time, he’s not playing to the level,” said Richards. “He doesn’t feel loved. He came out in his interview.”
Carragher responded: “It’s not down to the manager. It’s down to Lukaku. It’s not about the love from the manager. You spend £100 million on a player to make a difference in these games. He can’t even get into the team.”
Richards then added: “You don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes. He is obviously low on confidence. He has not been bringing him on in a lot of the game. 100%, for £100 million, he has to do more.
“Tonight, he came on and he missed a sitter. It will be on social media and everyone will take the mick out of him. He is a top-quality player going through a bad time.”
Carragher added further: “I think he is just below the elite. I have always felt that. I always feel that whenever we have spoken about Lukaku, there is always a ‘but’.
“Even his record in the Premier League, even though he scored a lot of goals. If you look at the teams, it was never against the biggest teams. Very good player. When you are talking about Benzema, Harry Kane or Lewandowski. For me, he has just been a little bit below that level.”
The problem facing Lukaku is that he came into a team that had just won the Champions League only months before.
So, without him, they have shown they can do the business and it also puts less limelight on Tuchel.
If the German didn’t win the Champions League last season, then there would be more focus on him because critics would feel he needs to get the best out of an expensive squad.
But, as mentioned, he has already done that minus Lukaku, so the questions are being asked of him instead and, at this moment in time, there is no answer.
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