Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel will hold talks with Romelu Lukaku on Monday to discuss the Belgian's recent comments that were crucial to the coach's strategy and which led the striker to a 2-2 home draw with Liverpool on Sunday.
Lukaku, who signed from Internazionale in a season close to a club-record £97.5 million ($131.74 million), told Sky Italy that he was unhappy with Tuchel's system, adding that he would return to Italy at some point in his career. Would like to return
Tuchel declined to say what he would say to Lukaku at Monday's meeting or whether the 28-year-old would return to the squad for Wednesday's Carabao Cup semi-finals, the first leg at home to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
"I can't tell you what I want from the meeting behind closed doors tomorrow," Tuchel told reporters. "I cannot and will not speak in public."
The German said Lukaku was dropped from Sunday's encounter with Liverpool to avoid distracting the team.
"The noise was huge," Tuchel said. "It was too noisy, we completely lost focus for the match and we decided to delay the decision."
The coach said that postponing discussions with Lukaku would "protect Romelu from a hasty decision."
"We need to talk to him, we need to read the whole interview and stay calm and not lose our heads," Tuchel said. "He is our player and will be our player. We will always protect our player.
"And when we make some decisions like this, we need to evaluate the situation and not listen to the media or pressure but understand what they said, why they said [this] and this yesterday's meeting. From there we will take a decision."
Tuchel said Sunday's draw with Liverpool was "a great game of football" and that his side had been unlucky to score themselves two goals before claiming a point.
"It was great to come back 2-0," he said.
The draw meant Chelsea finished second with 43 points from 21 games, one point ahead of third-placed Liverpool, who have a game in hand. Leaders Manchester City have 53 points from 21.