Premier League legend Paolo Di Canio has taken an extraordinary swipe at Chelsea frontman Romelu Lukaku, branding the striker ‘functional’ and ‘dull’ amid his six-game goal drought.
The Belgium international overcame an injury scare to start Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Brentford on Saturday evening, where the Blues survived a late onslaught to come away with all three points.
Lukaku, though, cut an often frustrated and forlorn figure up top before he was substituted in the 76th minute, having fluffed the few opportunities that fell his way.
The 28-year-old has now gone six appearances without a goal – four of which have been in the Premier League – and last netted in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa in September.
Lukaku had no such issues last season with Inter, scoring routinely in Serie A, but former West Ham star Di Canio feels the difficulty in the Premier League is far higher and the Belgian has struggled as a result, also criticising his style of play.
“I heard [Inter icon turned pundit Giuseppe] Bergomi comparing [Victor] Osimhen and Lukaku. But Osimhen has a different spirit, he’s not dull like him,” Di Canio told Sky Sports Italia’s Calcio Club.
“When the difficulty increased he scored no goals in five games with Chelsea. And it’s not Chelsea’s fault, they are top of the table even without his goals.”
He continued, “Lukaku does not score. Lukaku is a functional player, just as [Fernando] Llorente was in Antonio Conte’s Juventus.
“Even if Lukaku is stronger than Llorente, Lukaku is still functional to a certain type of game.”
Napoli’s Nigerian forward Osimhen has netted five goals in seven Serie A appearances this season, while he also netted a brilliant brace against Leicester City in the Europa League.
Despite Lukaku’s recent struggles in front of goal, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel is not worried, saying, “I am not concerned as I felt him a bit tired, and then isolated because we were defending too deep as a block.
“I felt him a bit tired. Altogether we produced a very strong 60 to 75 minutes, including Romelu and Timo. Both of them, Romelu and Timo, were too far away to help us escape the pressure. That was the problem, but I have no concerns.” (Punch)
