Maresca must offload Chelsea flop after 4/10 Euro 2024 display

Enzo Maresca has been tasked with the job of returning Chelsea to the top of the Premier League following his appointment from Leicester City earlier this month.

The Italian arrives at Stamford Bridge following his time with the Foxes in the Championship, where he claimed the league title in his first season in senior management.

Maresca inherits a side on the up, with the Blues finishing in a Europa League place despite a terrible start to the campaign which saw the club win just one of their first six Premier League outings in 2023/24.

It’s safe to say he will have a lot of players at his disposal, with owner Todd Boehly making 22 first-team additions during the last two years – with more players expected to follow suit during the transfer window.

There will need to be a compromise to all the new additions, with players needing to be sold from Stamford Bridge during the off-season to balance the books and avoid a punishment from the Premier League for breaking their FFP rules.

One player in particular is surely set for an exit from the club after spending the last two years on temporary loan stints away from the Blues.

Romelu Lukaku’s stats at Chelsea since 2021

Despite joining the club for a reported £97.5m fee back in the summer of 2021, striker Romelu Lukaku has failed to provide any value for money, scoring just 15 times in his 44 appearances after rejoining Chelsea.

He’s subsequently been on two separate loan spells away from England, joining Serie A duo Inter Milan and Roma in a bid to reignite his once red-hot form in front of goal.

The Belgian has found the net on 35 occasions between the two loan stints, but it might not be enough to force himself back into Maresca’s plans next season.

Given his expensive fee, the club will look to recoup as much of the money as possible, allowing Lukaku to have a fresh start after a dismal second spell in the Premier League for Chelsea.

However, he’s been selected by his nation to feature at Euro 2024, but his fortunes haven’t changed, producing a below-par display in Belgium’s shock 1-0 defeat against Slovakia yesterday.

Lukaku’s stats for Belgium against Slovakia

Belgium started their Euro 2024 campaign in Germany on Monday afternoon, facing Slovakia – a game in which Domenico Tedesco’s side were huge favourites to win.

However, Lukaku and Co failed to produce any quality, with the striker producing a shambolic display, which led to journalist Francois Plateau branding the 31-year-old as “terrible”.

He featured for the entirety of the contest but only managed 27 touches – an average of just one touch every 3.3 minutes during the unexpected defeat.

He was just as careless when he eventually received the ball, making just 14 passes and losing possession five times while straying into an offside position on two separate occasions.

However, Lukaku’s most disappointing part of his display came in the attacking third, missing three big chances and having two goals ruled out for offside and a foul in the build up to what Belgium thought was a late equaliser.

As a result, the centre-forward was handed a 4/10 match rating by Goal, with the striker receiving the joint-lowest rating of any Belgium player in an afternoon to forget for the nation.

Given his woeful display, Chelsea must cash in on Lukaku, with the attacker evidently a shadow of his former self and looking more sluggish as the months tick by.

They will undoubtedly lose a whole load on their huge investment from a number of years ago, but they can easily recoup a fee in the region of £30m which could allow Maresca to invest the funds generated in a new focal point for the Blues.