John Obi Mikel Reveals Why Romelu Lukaku Struggled At Chelsea Last Season

• John Obi Mikel believes the physicality of the Premier League is part of the reason Romelu Lukaku has struggled since making a return to Chelsea
• The Belgian managed just 15 goals in 44 appearances last season after making a sensational £97m return to Stamford Bridge from Inter Milan
• According to Lukaku’s former teammate Mikel, the Belgian thrived in the Serie A partly because the league is not as physical as the Premier League

Former Chelsea star John Obi Mikel has attributed the struggles of his ex-teammate Romelu Lukaku at Chelsea to the physicality of the Premier League.

Romelu Lukaku finishes as Chelsea's top scorer

Despite finishing last season as Chelsea's top scorer, Lukaku scored a rather disappointing 15 goals in all competitions from 44 games, Football Transfers reports.

Only eight of these goals came in the Premier League and he did not register any assist last season.

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And according to former Chelsea midfielder Mikel, the physicality of the Premier League is part of the reason Romelu Lukaku has struggled since making a return to Stamford Bridge last summer.

Mikel made this know in an interview with Nigerian station Naija FM.

Mikel said in the interview when asked why Lukaku is struggling at Chelsea: “It is the league, the Premier League is too powerful, too strong, too fast, whereas Italian League is slow. The pace of English football is way too much than the Italian league. In the Italian League, you can play till your 40s, but that hardly happens in the English League.”

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Earlier, Sports Brief reported that former England boss Fabio Capello believes the physicality of the Premier League is part of the reason Romelu Lukaku has struggled since making his Chelsea return.

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Surprisingly, things started so well for Lukaku back at Chelsea. He made a dream return, scoring one and creating havoc in a 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on August 22.

After a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield, Lukaku struck twice more in the next game – a 3-0 home victory over Aston Villa.

And he struck again in Chelsea’s first Champions League match of the campaign, heading home the winner in a 1-0 triumph over Zenit St Petersburg at Stamford Bridge.

This completed a fantastic start to his Chelsea return, with four goals in his first four matches in all competitions.

But injury and a drop in form saw Lukaku go three months without a goal in the league. He however ended the season as Chelsea's top scorer with 14 goals.