Graeme Souness is on the same page as Thomas Tuchel regarding the future of Romelu Lukaku at Chelsea. The 28-year-old scored the third of the evening at Elland Road, handing the Blues an injection of confidence ahead of their FA Cup final clash with Liverpool.
However, while the Belgium international's spritely form bodes well ahead of the weekend, the striker's long-term fortunes in west London have been in doubt. Lukaku has struggled to acclimatise to life back in the Premier League since joining from Inter Milan in the summer for a club-record fee.
He scored just three goals in his first ten Premier League appearances for Tuchel's side, and struggled to warrant the £97.5 million price tag. But, despite his misfortunes in front of goal, the Blues boss has always back Lukaku to prevail and seek his best form at Chelsea.
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"For us it is clear, we can play with Romelu and we can be very strong with Romelu and we proved it," Tuchel said, speaking last month. "And, we will prove it if he is involved and keeps involved mentally and he stays involved in the situation to go through this he can grow from it and come back stronger.
"It is always like this and it is for sure disappointing for him and not what we expected, not what we expected at the moment, but it is not finished and we will not give in," the Chelsea boss added. "We never give in with any players and we never give up.
"We will push him, we will push as far as we can and as long as the player stays involved in the mentality that is needed to bring a team forward he can still be a crucial player."
Tuchel has since been proven right, with Lukaku finding the net three times in his previous two Chelsea starts and the grey clouds seem to be clearing. Speaking to Sky Sports following the Blues' win over Leeds, Souness agreed with the German and insisted that the Belgian has a future at Stamford Bridge.
"This may say something about this guy going forward because he looked really happy after scoring his goal - he may have turned a corner," the former Liverpool midfielder said. "He has great play, he has fabulous players in that team, they will do that for him."
"I thought he would be the difference for Chelsea this year," Souness added. "I thought he would take them to a point where they would be pushing Liverpool and City this year, but it hasn’t worked out for him.
"He has to remain there and prove all his doubters wrong. He can’t leave there with the shadow that he has currently got over his head."
