Chelsea to hand Pochettino ‘his own Haaland’ in Lukaku on his first day as boss

Chelsea’s incoming boss Mauricio Pochettino has been told he will have his own Erling Haaland in Romelu Lukaku. Former Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has given advice on how to get the best out of the striker.

Pochettino will officially become Chelsea head coach on July 1. Coincidentally, that will be the first day after Lukaku’s loan spell at Inter Milan comes to an end and he will solely be a Blues player again.

Pochettino will have a decision to make on the future of the forward. Lukaku had a poor first season back at Chelsea and was sent to Inter last summer by Thomas Tuchel.

Inter appear unlikely to make the deal permanent and he will return to Stamford Bridge. Martinez managed Lukaku at Everton for a couple of seasons before becoming his coach at international level between 2016 and 2022.

He claims there is a feeling Lukaku has not been truly appreciated in England throughout his career. However, he claims there are similarities to Manchester City superstar Haaland.

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Martinez says City players have had to adapt to accommodate for Haaland’s qualities. He claims Chelsea players must do the same with Lukaku in order for him to show his best.

Martinez told talkSPORT: “I don’t think he’s ever been rated in the UK in the way he’s rated away from it. You have to play to his strengths.

“I think it’s a fair point to make that the No 9 is the player who relies more on the other ten players, and it’s a good example with what we’ve seen from Erling Haaland this season at Man City – and he is clearly one of the finest goalscorers the game has ever had.

“It’s about style, it’s about the partnership, who is going to be the last man who is giving you the ball. It’s about that understanding from the other players of what your No 9 can do.”

Martinez has had a big impact on Lukaku’s career at domestic and international level. He has warned Pochettino against asking the 30-year-old to do things he isn’t comfortable with.

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He added: “I’ve always had a special connection with Rom because I always wanted to see Rom scoring goals. Every player needs to have an outstanding quality and Romelu is a goalscorer – he can finish with his left, with his right, he is powerful, he can get away from defenders.

“The problem we’ve had with Romelu, and I’ve seen it as a national team coach looking from the outside, is that he’s always been asked to do things he cannot do. When you start asking a player to do things away from your outstanding quality, there will be moments where he doesn’t fit in.

“If you look at his numbers in terms of goals, for the national team he is the highest scorer in their history, highest goalscorer at Everton [in the Premier League], you look throughout the numbers in the elite group of players.

“Then there is so much talk about how he should be holding up the ball, he should be linking up playing, he should be doing more off the ball. I think this is a shame when we start to analyse players from that point of view.”

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