Souness calls Lukaku’s comment ‘disrespectful’ and backs Thomas Tuchel
Graeme Souness believes Romelu Lukaku owes his teammates an apology after the controversial comment he made in an interview that led to Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel withdrawing him from the squad for their crucial Sunday match against rivals Liverpool.
In an interview with
Sky Italiathat was broadcast this week,
Lukakuexpressed his dissatisfaction with his position at the club and expressed his desire to return to
Inter Milan.
Souness
, a Sky Sports pundit, called Lukaku's comments "ridiculous and damaging," and he defended
Chelseamanager
Thomas Tuchel
for benching the £97.5m striker despite the importance of the game, which might ruin the Blues' ambitions of winning the Premier League this season.
"You're trying to understand how a player has got to a stage where he's come out with such a ridiculous and damaging statement,"
said
Souness
.
"We've all played with players who need to be training every day and playing every week to get the best out of them. Lukaku is a powerful man, and he's been used sparingly by the manager.
"He's physically big and strong and has to be playing games all the time to be scoring goals. Wayne Rooney, I imagine, had to be like that to get the very best out of him. [Lukaku] was frustrated at not coming back and going straight into the team and has come up with the nonsense he's said.
"It was totally disrespectful. He's 29 years old not 19 and he should know better. This damages the football club enormously. It's like walking into a dressing room and telling the other guys, 'I don't want to be with you anymore'.
"It damages the manager, and he should say, 'If you don't fancy it here, there's the door. On you go'. The first thing I'd do if I was Thomas Tuchel is I'd tell Lukaku that he needs to apologize. He needs to stand in front of everyone in the dressing room and apologize unreservedly.
"If he's not prepared to come to me as the manager, I'd come to him and have an honest conversation over whether he really meant it or whether it was a mistake. If he's not apologized, then he's done the right thing [in leaving him out].
"Tuchel has put a marker down and Lukaku has more than crossed the line. He has to apologize to his teammates. It was so offside, it beggars belief."
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