29 October 2023 , 10:56
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Chelsea legend Joe Cole has questioned why his former side let Romelu Lukaku leave on loan this summer given their own struggles in front of goal.
Mauricio Pochettino has endured an underwhelming start to life as Blues boss after taking the reins at the start of pre-season. Chelsea currently sit 11th in the Premier League table and one of the concerning themes from the opening exchanges of their campaign has been a severe lack of goals.
The west Londoners have netted just 13 goals in the league so far this term, a tally lower than every team above them bar Manchester United who have played one game less. Chelsea's most recent clash came at home against Brentford and after a positive display the week prior during the 2-2 draw against Arsenal, hopes were high.
And yet, Chelsea were dismal for the majority of the game and were on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline after goals from Ethan Pinnock and Bryan Mbeumo. By the time the Bees notched their second, which came from Blues 'keeper Robert Sanchez coming up for an attacking corner, Stamford Bridge was nearly half-empty.
For all of Pochettino's side's possession, they struggled to turn that into clear-cut chances. It's not as if Chelsea don't have options, the club spent handsomely to bring striker Nicolas Jackson to the Bridge from Villarreal, while Armando Broja is also a potential avenue for the Blues boss to explore. However, Cole feels they had a suitable alternative on their books and willingly chose to offload him.
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Lukaku's £97million move in 2021 has hardly gone to plan, the Belgian made sure of that with his explosive interview declaring his love for former side Inter Milan just months into his second spell at Chelsea, but he knows where the goal is. Alas, he was sent out on loan to Roma for the entirety of the campaign.
The former Manchester United and Inter ace has netted eight goals in 10 games under the guidance of Jose Mourinho and Cole clearly feels he could have done a job for Chelsea. "You here all the buzzwords around the club but at the end of the day, we can’t score goals," he told TNT Sport.
HAVE YOUR SAY!Were Chelsea wrong to loan Lukaku? Comment below
Chelsea's current attacking options aren't firing (Javier Garcia/REX/Shutterstock)"With Romelu Lukaku, for all of his faults, he was in the door. He was a success at Inter Milan, he scored goals at Everton and West Brom in this country, why couldn’t he score goals at Chelsea? What was wrong [with him?]
"He is scoring goals now for Roma. So we have to look within ourselves, what is wrong with this club at the moment? The squad is unbalanced, but there is something wrong fundamentally with the club at the moment."
The rumour mill is already up and running ahead of the January transfer window and Chelsea have been linked with moves for Ivan Toney and Napoli's Victor Osimhen. It remains to be seen if Pochettino wishes to spend even more cash on another attacking option.