After Controversial Interview With Sky Italy, Romelu Lukaku Shunned By Chelsea Players

Romelu Lukaku (Twitter @chelseafc)

JAKARTA - Chelsea could be forced to sell Romelu Lukaku in the January transfer window because the horrendous interview conducted by the former Inter Milan striker made the team no longer sympathize with him.

Romelu Lukaku appears to have made his position at Chelsea untenable after his shocking interview with Sky Italy saw him lose support in the dressing room.

The 28-year-old striker returned to Stamford Bridge for a club-record transfer fee of £97.5 million. At that time he was expected by many people to bring Chelsea to win the English Premier League again.

After being in and out of Thomas Tuchel's squad that won the Champions League last season, Lukaku gave an interview about his departure from Inter Milan in December.

After the results of the interview were published at the turn of the year, Tuchel then removed Lukaku from the squad for the match against Liverpool. At that time the fans were angry after Lukaku made it clear that he wanted to return to Italy.

Tuchel declined to reveal the appropriate punishment for his striker, while Lukaku has yet to comment on the matter but has deleted his Twitter account.

Furthermore, The Athletic reported that Lukaku was not supported by any Chelsea players so no one wanted to defend Lukaku.

His teammates did not expect the former Manchester United striker to make such comments, including when he criticized Tuchel's tactics, the Daily Star website reported on Monday.