Former Chelsea midfielder Gus Poyet believes something is 'not there' with Romelu Lukaku as the striker continues to struggle at Stamford Bridge.
The Belgian was a substitute in Sunday's Carabao Cup defeat to Liverpool, though he did come off the bench to score a goal which was later ruled out for offside.
Since returning to the club in the summer from Italian giants Inter Milan, Lukaku has looked a shell of the player signed for £97.5million.
Ten goals in 29 appearances across all competitions is not the return the club were hoping for when he signed and Poyet believes Lukaku has taken 'one or two steps backwards.'
Speaking to bettingexpert, Poyet said: “The way Chelsea are playing, the positions he’s taking, it’s been difficult for him as a striker. There are situations where after watching the first part of his career, I was really excited. Something is not there at the moment. It’s a mix of everything, mentally, the press, playing and not playing, everything together is unfortunately not going for him. It's a strange situation.
“I went to watch Lukaku when he was 17 at Chelsea in the second team at Cobham as I was trying to get him [on loan] to Brighton. He was already this big fella and it looked like he was playing with kids. You could see he had certain qualities.
"He didn’t have enough time to perform at Chelsea, so he left, went to different clubs and achieved his best level with Inter Milan. So at that time we all thought he was ready to come back to Chelsea.
"The beginning of his second spell at Chelsea, he was in a better condition, mentally, physically and technically after Inter Milan.
“Right now, being honest, he’s taken one or two steps backwards. Somehow the club need to find a way to see what Lukaku was doing at Inter, how the team was arriving to the last 30 metres of the pitch and try to see if they can reproduce that for Lukaku now.”
Chelsea are next in action in the FA Cup fifth round against Luton, as they look to put the cup final defeat behind them.
