‘You’ll find it difficult’ – Henry reveals he told Lukaku not to join Chelsea ‘because of Tuchel’

 

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has revealed he warned Romelu Lukaku about joining Chelsea due to Thomas Tuchel’s style of play.

Lukaku was re-signed by the Blues in August 2021 for a then club-record fee believed to be in the region of £97.5million.

The Belgian hit the ground running with four goals in his first four games back at Stamford Bridge.

However, his form took a nose dive and his minutes were reduced following a controversial interview with Sky Italia.

Lukaku revealed that he was unhappy with Tuchel’s tactics and declared his love for Inter Milan, whom he left to join Chelsea months prior.

The former Man Utd striker apologised to the German head coach, the club’s fans and his teammates via a video posted on Chelsea’s official Twitter page.

“To the fans, I’m sorry for the upset that I caused,” he said.

“To the manager, I apologise and to my team-mates and the squad because I think it was not the right moment and I want to move forward from this.”

After a bitterly disappointing 2021-22 campaign, Lukaku re-joined Inter Milan on a season-long loan.

Believe it or not, former Arsenal striker Henry – who coached Lukaku with the Belgian national team – knew the 29-year-old would not be a success at Stamford Bridge.

Henry says he told Lukaku he would “find it difficult” to play under Tuchel and also hinted that he would struggle to be a success under current boss Graham Potter.

The Frenchman told CBS Sports: “We had a discussion when he went to Chelsea.

“I told him he’s going to find it difficult to play at Chelsea and that happened to be the case because of the way Tuchel liked to play.

“Pressing, the No.9 and winger have to change, Rom likes to stay where he is, feed him, play him early, he will try to bully you, turn, stay in the box, crosses, he’s a different type of No.9 to what Tuchel wanted.

“Now, is he going to fit into what Potter is trying to do? I think they’re struggling with that, let alone with him in the squad.

“But what does he want to do? I don’t think he wants to go back, that’s the main thing, I think he wants to stay at Inter.

“And that’s where there’s maybe going to be a little clash if they want him back because I think he wants to stay there.

“The way when he came back. He said it, he said it the other day, ‘everyone knows what I want to do, what I want to do is to stay’.”

Lukaku scored the only goal of the game as Inter won the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against FC Porto on Wednesday evening.

After the win, Lukaku insisted he is not focusing on what will happen in the summer.

He said: “I haven’t spoken to nobody.

“I focus on myself, the present, I don’t want to look at the future right now, it doesn’t make sense.

“Football is the present, the most important thing, I just want to perform and prepare myself for the next game at the weekend.”