Romelu Lukaku has been dropped from the Chelsea squad and he will not feature against Liverpool this afternoon following THAT controversial interview.
The 28-year-old said he was unhappy with his role at Stamford Bridge in an interview with Sky Italia three weeks ago, which was released on Thursday.
Lukaku has scored in his last two Premier League appearances but manager Thomas Tuchel has made the bold decision ahead of Sunday's clash according to The Athletic.
Tuchel voiced his displeasure at Lukaku's interview in Friday's press conference and he's privately spoken to the player.
Lukaku re-joined Chelsea from Inter Milan in the summer in a £95 million deal.
His time in Italy saw him win Serie A under Antonio Conte and re-establish himself as one of the world's best strikers, after struggling at Manchester United.
The Belgium international was full of praise for Inter in his interview and even hinted at wanting to return, just four months after leaving the San Siro.
He said: "I think everything that happened was not supposed to happen like this.
“How I left Inter, how I communicated with the fans, this bothers me because it is not the right time now, but even when I left it was not the right time.
“Now I think it is right to speak because I have always said that I have Inter in my heart, I will return to play there, I really hope so.
“I am in love with Italy, this is rightly the time to talk and let people know what really happened without talking badly about people because I am not like that.”
Lukaku has scored five goals in 13 Premier League appearances after battling an ankle injury as well as Covid.
Chelsea are currently second in the league and 11 points behind leaders Manchester City after a tricky December period.
They've kept just one clean sheet all month and draw three of their last four games to see City pull away at the top.
Victory over Liverpool would see them open up a four point gap on the Reds, who sit in third after an equally disappointing festive period.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will not be in the away dugout after a suspected positive Covid test.
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Topics: Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea, Premier League
Daniel Marland