Pochettino ready to give Lukaku a chance

"Everything does not depend on me, but Lukaku and the leadership have to find a solution," Pochettino said on August 24 at a press conference before the match against Luton Town in the third round of the Premier League. "They need to agree directly, then inform me. I will not do anything before Lukaku or the club wants to talk to me."

In the summer of 2021, Lukaku returned to Chelsea under a contract of 135 million USD, but did not meet expectations, scoring only eight goals in the Premier League and 15 goals in 44 matches in all competitions. In the 2022-2023 season, the Belgian striker joined Inter on loan, scoring 14 goals in all competitions and was unable to reproduce the peak form that helped the club win the scudetto two years ago.

This summer, Inter reached an agreement to buy Lukaku from Chelsea, but the deal fell through when the 30-year-old striker secretly negotiated with Juventus. However, "Old lady" only buys Lukaku if he finds an outlet for Dusan Vlahovic. Therefore, Lukaku is still stuck at Chelsea and has to train with the U21 team to maintain fitness.

Pochettino said he has not spoken with Lukaku, but is ready to give the Belgian striker a chance if the parties can remove the conflict. "The future can change everything. Life can change," he said. "In football, dynamics change quickly and we need to keep going. Today it's the same. If something changes we will adapt."

Last week, Chelsea recruited midfielder duo Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia for a total fee of nearly 200 million USD. In particular, Lavia was not registered to play and Caicedo played for about 30 minutes at the end of the 1-3 loss at West Ham in the second round of the Premier League on August 20. Pochettino revealed Caicedo is ready to start today, and Lavia needs a few weeks to catch up and integrate with new teammates.

Argentina coach said Carney Chukwuemeka - the player injured and left the field in the first half of the match against West Ham - had to rest for a few weeks, and Mykhailo Mudryk suffered a slight pain in training this week and could not play today. Earlier, Chelsea's injury list included Benoit Badiashile, Marcus Bettinelli, Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana, Reece James and Christopher Nkunku.

"Chelsea have a lot of injuries but that's football," Pochettino said. "It's better for this to happen at the start of the season, and then Chelsea can settle down, have all the players healthy, start competing and play better. It's true that Chelsea are a bit unlucky with a lot of problems. , but I am optimistic the whole team will play well against Luton."

The 51-year-old coach believes that Chelsea will experience a difficult game at Stamford Bridge, because Luton often plays with a 3-5-2 formation, has many fast players to make transitions and is very strong in the game. fixed situations.