Pundit delivers scathing verdict on Chelsea’s headline 2021 summer signing

“Probably the worst PL signing ever”- Sky Sports pundit delivers scathing verdict on Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea transfer

Footballer-turned-pundit Jamie O’Hara didn’t mince his words when speaking about Romelu Lukaku’s botched move to Chelsea, as the striker nears a return to former club Inter Milan on loan. 

Speaking to Football Daily (h/t Daily Mail), O’Hara branded Chelsea’s botched record-signing as “the worst Premier League signing ever”. While those are scathing words, they are, unfortunately, quite true. 

He also insinuated that Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel should have done more to keep the striker, given that Ben Chilwell is returning from his long-term injury and together with Reece James on the other flank, the two full-backs could have provided more supply to the Belgian. O’Hara said, 

“I would have kept him. I would have got my arm around him and said ‘we need Lukaku at his best, this is a new era with new people’ and Thomas Tuchel should have done better to keep him on side.

“You’ve got Reece James and Ben Chilwell back this season, so he’s a player that would’ve been massive for them.”

The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder ultimately conceded that everyone involved in the situation – the club, the head coach, the player himself – all of them had lost belief to a point where nothing could have been salvaged. 

Lukaku scored 15 goals in 44 appearances on his Chelsea return but those numbers haven’t been the prime cause of chaos. 

Comments by the 29-year-old during an unsanctioned Sky Italia interview not only enraged an overwhelming majority of the Chelsea fanbase but also burnt the bridge between him and Thomas Tuchel. 

Is there truth to what O’Hara is saying?

Partly yes, partly no. 

Yes to his verdict that Lukaku has indeed been one of the worst football transfers ever made, if not the worst. There is absolutely no denying that statement. 

No to the part where he says Chelsea and Tuchel should have tried more to work it out. Given the situation, it was in everyone’s best interest for Lukaku to leave Stamford Bridge. 

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It’s been an enormous financial disaster, now it’s all about damage limitation. It had become increasingly clear that Tuchel doesn’t consider Lukaku to be in his plans any longer, either owing to his comments or his performances or both. 

Chelsea can now concentrate elsewhere. With a newly appointed board and the Belgian’s future now resolved (at least for now), those at SW6 can focus more on the transfer market.