Former Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge has suggested that whoever comes in as the next Blues manager could do well to give Romelu Lukaku another chance to be the main man at Stamford Bridge.
The Belgium international struggled at Chelsea last season and has returned to Inter Milan on loan for this campaign, though his long-term future remains unclear ahead of the summer.
Although Lukaku can undoubtedly be a world class striker on his day, he’s had a difficult couple of years and looks low on confidence, with Sturridge suggesting he never got a chance to have a team built around him at Chelsea.
Speaking on Sky Sports in the video clip below, Sturridge made it clear he would like to see Lukaku get that opportunity under whoever comes in as the club’s next manager…
“It depends on the manager,” Sturridge said. “The new manager could come in and can build a team around him and I think that is probably what Lukaku needs.
“We will see, hopefully whoever comes in will fancy him and give him an opportunity because he didn’t really get a good chance to come out and prove himself once again at Chelsea, it was a very short period of time.
“So if he does come back and has a very good preseason I am sure the manager will know this guy is a goal scorer.
“Maybe there are things that teams will want him to do more of, but in regards of scoring goals Lukaku does that, that is what he is known for.”
We’re not sure most Chelsea fans would agree with giving Lukaku another chance after his poor form last season and his relative lack of impact on loan at Inter, but it could be that the west London giants will find a manager who can get the 29-year-old back to his best.