Robert Martinez has loosely suggested Romelu Lukaku may need to leave Chelsea ahead of the World Cup later this year.
Lukaku's return to Stamford Bridge has not gone well since his summer switch from Inter. The 28-year-old has managed only five Premier League goals this season and lost his position in the regular starting XI after revealing he was not happy at Chelsea and wanted to return to Italy back in December.
The showpiece in Qatar is potentially the last chance some of Belgium's golden generation will get to win silverware on the international stage, and manager Martinez has admitted he wants all his players to feel good as the tournament approaches.
He said: "I'm not going to judge or assess the condition of any player until after the summer because it is not a normal situation.
"It is still seven months to the World Cup and probably you will go into the details of how a player feels when it gets closer to it than now.
"But there will be a lot of players who change clubs or are going to feel in a different way in the summer.
"Romelu needs to be assessed on how he feels in September, the same way Eden Hazard does and some others.
"But he is one of the players for whom the summer could be a big moment for their careers."
However, Martinez did reiterate that Lukaku is in a good place mentally and wants to finish the club season strongly.
He added: “I have a very close relationship with all my players. I would never tell a player what to do but we always share thoughts.
“At the moment Romelu is in a good place. He is so committed.
"He was delighted to win the Club World Cup and the next step is to finish the season strong with Chelsea and make sure he can feel very important."
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Source : 90min