sport news MATT BARLOW: Lukaku's Chelsea return hasn't worked out on any level but he's ... trends now

Romelu Lukaku let it be known on the eve of the FA Cup final that he wanted to do his own talking.

It was a rebuke for his agent, Federico Pastorello, who had given an interview in the Italian media, in which he said there was 'clearly a problem' and that there would be talks with Chelsea's new owners at the end of the season amid interest from both teams in Milan.

Lukaku took to social media to put the record straight. 

'Never ever will I let someone speak for me,' he said. And 'it's not in my name'. 

His manager might have preferred him to be relaxed and with his mind on something more pertinent, but this is the modern reality.

The trouble is the last time he spoke for himself the fall-out was even worse. 

He told Sky Italia that Thomas Tuchel's tactics didn't really suit him and he was missing Inter Milan, where he played with a strike-partner and proved unstoppable last season as he won the Serie A title.

Tuchel dropped him and their relationship has never seemed the same since.

More of an issue is that his football is not doing the talking either. His football, in fact, has been silent for large parts of the season. 

The striker was supposed to be the missing link, the difference when the games were tight or when the trophies are decided.

That's why they invested £97.5million to bring him back to Stamford Bridge. It has not worked out on any level, and this last-gasp chance to salvage something positive from the wreckage slipped has away too.

Lukaku was muted again at Wembley. He toiled away for 85 minutes causing very little concern to Liverpool's centre-halves Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate until Tuchel put him out of his misery and sent on Hakim Ziyech.

He retired to the bench with the consolation of a slap on the back from the boss, before he settling down to watch extra-time and then link

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