The Chelsea manager says he is happy with the way Lukaku has handled the situation after the unauthorized interview.
A shocking interview from Romelu Lukaku persuaded Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel to drop him from his squad temporarily. The Belgian striker publicly criticized the manager and expressed his desire to return to his former side.
Ahead of the Blues’ upcoming derby against Tottenham, Tuchel confirmed the player had apologized for his remarks.
“First of all we were even in the background happy that we took the time that it needed to look calmly on it and talk calmly,” the Chelsea boss said.
“He apologized and is back in the squad for today’s (Tuesday’s) training.”
The German manager added: “For me the most important thing was to understand and clearly understand and believe that it was not intentional.
“He did not do this intentionally to create noise in front of such a big game. And it’s the very first time even he has behaved like this.”
Following the interview, there were rumors around Lukaku’s potential departure from Chelsea in the near future. However, Tuchel vows the club will continue to support their record signing.
He added: “It’s not that big as maybe people want it to be, but it’s also not small.
“But it is small enough to stay calm, accept an apology and to move on forward. He’s very aware of what happened and what he created and he feels the responsibility to clean the mess up.
“Maybe we will have a bit of smell still from it, of course. He can handle it, but he also has no other choice. He cannot expect everybody to be super happy the very next day.
“But he’s still our player. We have good, good reasons to make him play for us, and to convince him and to fight hard that he’s our player. We’re happy he’s our player, we will protect him.”
Chelsea are struggling to regain their form, and Lukaku’s return will undoubtedly provide them with a crucial boost. Following back-to-back Premier League draws, Chelsea will face Tottenham in Carabao Cup’s semi-finals on Wednesday.
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