Romelu Lukaku's failed return to Chelsea is a massive lesson to every young player.
It doesn’t matter what level you are at, if you can find yourself a home and you’re happy there, don’t move away just for money. I said several times over the course of last season that Lukaku was never going to be the fox-in-the-box type the Blues needed.
So I’m not surprised his return to Stamford Bridge from Inter Milan went up in smoke as quickly as it did. The only person who has benefited from the whole sorry saga is the player’s agent, who must be laughing his head off that he has trousered whopping cuts from two deals in the space of 12 months.
Although, what has happened to Lukaku is the result of an age-old problem in football and something many players face at some point in their careers. A club will make an offer on personal terms and, no matter how many times they are rebuffed, they will keep coming back with more. Basically, a case of, ‘How much do we need to offer this fella before he folds’? And it’s in this kind of situation where players need to be strong.
They must sit down on their own – no family members, no agents – and go through a process in which they ask themselves several questions:
- Am I scoring goals/keeping clean sheets?
- Am I happy in my life?
- Do I enjoy going into town and having a coffee with friends?
- Have I got a good social life?
- Am I treated well by the supporters?
- Am I respected by the coach?
- And does he help me in my game?
If you have most, if not all, of those things then my advice is to stay put, even if another club is offering double what you’re earning. Lukaku could have ticked every one of them at Inter but he cashed it in and went to Chelsea, where he lost some of them.
That led to him being unhappy and taking part in his now infamous Sky interview, which aired in December. After which some of his team-mates will have inevitably turned their backs on him, and certainly his manager, Thomas Tuchel, did, which was why he was dropped.
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Once you end up not playing, you find those little niggles that you’d usually put to one side become more of an issue and you start saying, ‘I’ll sit this one out’. And so it crumbles until eventually it all breaks down. I remember years ago sitting next to Andy Gray on the Crystal Palace bus after a reserve team game at Brighton and chatting to him about my future. I told him I had the choice of Southend, who were offering £525 a week, or Wimbledon, who were offering £600 a week. He said, ‘Where do you think you’ll play better and get the most opportunity’?
Colin Murphy had already said he’d play me as a striker at Southend and Andy said, ‘There you go’. It was simple advice, but spot on because you should never make a move in football simply because of the money.
In fact, the best chance any player can have of a successful career is by finding a home and staying there. I moved every two years, and that was pushing it if we’re being honest. If you’re good enough, two years gives you time to make a name for yourself at a club but never a home.
The more moves a player makes between 20 and 25, the less chance he has of a successful career and I hope youngsters take note of Lukaku’s career. I hope, too, that he has learned his lesson now and that he can get his head down and win trophies again in Italy. Most of all, I hope he can find a way to be happy in his football again.
