VIDEO:Player Analysis Of Why is Romelu Lukaku underperforming at Chelsea.

 VIDEO:Player Analysis Of  Why is Romelu Lukaku underperforming at Chelsea.

At the start of the Premier League season, Chelsea were the favourites to break the Manchester City-Liverpool duopoly and challenge for the title throughout the season. Yet despite conceding only more goal than City and two fewer than Liverpool, they’ve scored fifteen fewer than the former and twenty-one fewer than the latter. Clearly, Chelsea have a goal-scoring problem. After signing for the Champions League holders for £97.5m, much of that blame has fallen on the shoulders of Romelu Lukaku.

Last year, Lukaku wasn’t just a key player in Inter Milan’s title-winning squad. He was the talisman of the club, an icon in the blue side of Milan with a unique status among supporters, who gave him a level of adulation he has never found in England.

That context is important. Throughout his career, Lukaku has seemed to be a player who needs to feel especially appreciated, and exist at the epicentre of a club rather than as a component. His price tag has meant that while he’s received plenty of attention in West London, it’s come with far more scrutiny and little of the warm support he received in Italy.