Lukaku has been worse than Werner since Chelsea return
Stefan Bienkowski
- 29 Oct 2021 15:53 BST
- 5 min read
Chelsea fans were greeted with bad news on Friday, when Thomas Tuchel confirmed that star striker Romelu Lukaku would likely be out of action until after the next international break.
The Belgium international was supposed to be the centerpiece of Tuchel’s all-conquering side this season, however the striker has struggled with fitness and injuries either diminishing his ability in front of goal or ruling him out of action altogether.
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Indeed, while Lukaku may eventually live up to £103 million Chelsea spent on him this summer, his first few months back at the club haven’t exactly gone to plan.
How bad has Lukaku been this season?
So far this season Lukaku has shown exactly what he can do in front of goal and why Chelsea spent so much money on him in the first place. As we saw on his second debut for the club against Arsenal, the Belgium forward is an excellent penalty-box striker and as he showed with a brace against Aston Villa a few weeks later, he can also be just as dangerous outside the box.
However, despite a remarkable start in his second spell at the club, the towering striker has seen his goals dry up and to date he’s only managed to bag four and a solitary assist in 11 games for Chelsea. And when we consider that two of those goals came against Villa, it means Lukaku has gone without scoring or creating an assist in seven of his 11 games for Tuchel’s team this season.
As such, the player is averaging a rather poor record of just 0.53 goals and assists per 90 for the London club.
Is he any better than Werner?
Naturally, the best way to provide context to Lukaku’s form this season is to compare it to the striker he was essentially brought in to replace, in German forward Timo Werner.
Werner joined the club last year and struggled to prove that he was prepared to nail down the No.9 position and lead Chelsea’s front line as he did at RB Leipzig.
However, despite facing a huge amount of criticism, Werner still managed to bag 12 goals and 15 assists in 52 games for Chelsea last season. And when we break that down to his contribution per game, it works out as an average of 0.63 goals or assists per 90.
That, surprisingly, would suggest that Werner’s contributions to Chelsea last season were in fact better than Lukaku’s this time around. Which could prove to be a troubling stat for Tuchel and his new star striker unless he can turn things around when he gets back from injury.
