January 05, (THEWILL) – Chelsea has fined Romelu Lukaku for statements he made in an interview three weeks ago, according to Thomas Tuchel, the club’s manager.
The Blues’ boss left Lukaku out of Chelsea’s Premier League draw with Liverpool on Sunday, and Lukaku met with Tuchel on Monday.
As THEWILL reported, on Tuesday evening, Lukaku apologised to the club’s fans, owner, manager, and teammates via the club’s website, stating he was “sorry for the upset that I caused.”
The striker was welcomed back to team training and will be in the Chelsea squad for the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham on Wednesday – but the club has also fined him an undisclosed sum.
Tuchel explained this when he said: “There will be some disciplinary action and he will accept it. It happened and it’s not a small thing. But it’s not the biggest thing and does not make a comeback impossible, absolutely not. This is what we (will) prove now.
“But, something happened. He will be fined and of course he needs to accept it.”
Refusing to accept that the situation had increased the pressure on him as Chelsea head coach, Tuchel added: “(There has not been) extra pressure because of the way that we dealt with it.
“Petr (Cech), Marina (Granovskaia) and myself were very calm and very quick and very open. In the end it was very easy to deal with it — although we do not like to deal with it. We prefer not to have any noise.
“Pressure is part of my daily business. In general it is something we enjoy and it gives us a certain edge. In moments like this it’s necessary to take decisions and trust your leadership, to believe in what you do and to stay focussed, stay calm and show belief in the values that we implemented to work together. That’s what we did.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
