Gianfranco Zola said he liked Chelsea with Timo Werner before signing Romelu Lukaku last summer. The Belgian international returned to Chelsea from Inter Milan for £97.5m.
Speaking on Amazon Prime via Tuttomercatoweb, the former Blue hinted that Timo Werner could do more without Lukaku in the team, “Chelsea played an extraordinary season last year, but they always paid attention to the fact that they were missing a goalscorer. Werner and Lukaku are valued at £135m combined on Transfermarkt.
“They often created scoring chances, and in some games, they were penalised enough. Lukaku arrives to fill that shortcoming, but I liked Chelsea as they were.
"Werner did a dirty job for everyone else, and the reason he won the Champions League is that he put others in a position to do well. I'm curious to see Lukaku, but I liked Chelsea as it was. "
Lukaku has had a rocky start at Chelsea since his comeback in a blue shirt. First, he picked up an injury that meant he was out for a month. Then he did that interview with Sky Italia.
It's fair to say it's not the impact Chelsea fans would have hoped Lukaku bring to the club. Recently he's also not been able to find the back of the net as much as he would like.
Zola makes a bold comment in saying that he liked the way Chelsea played before the arrival of the new star forward, especially crediting Timo Werner for creating chances for others in the team.
In a sense, it’s accurate as Chelsea were without a so-called ‘out and out’ goalscorer as Timo Werner didn’t meet expectations in his goal tally throughout the season.
But, Lukau is now not doing any better and could his arrival affect Werner’s possible progression at Chelsea. Werner seems to be more of a team player, willing to create than only be the person to provide service to.
There’s been so much talk about Lukaku’s hold up play to allow players to drift forward, and we’ve had glimpses here and there. But, it’s not quite worked for the 28-year-old who often isn’t given the service in those runs in forward.
What is true is that Thomas Tuchel has a dilemma. Does he risk it and bring Timo Werner back into the squad to play a more prominent role and get goals from elsewhere on the pitch?
Or does he stick with the new signing, which has a lot of expectations riding on Lukaku? Either way, it’s a tough one.
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