The Blues fell to a 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, a result which ended their run of four games without defeat.

Chelsea have scored 13 goals in their 10 league games this season with Nicolas Jackson leading the line to little affect against the Bees.

With Armando Broja their only other option up front, Chelsea could explore bringing in another striker in January despite spending over £1billion in the transfer market since the club’s takeover last year.

Napoli star Victor Osimhen and Brentford’s Ivan Toney are among the few options who could be available mid-season but former Chelsea star Cole believes the club had a reliable option at their disposal in the summer who was shown the door.

Lukaku, who rejoined to Chelsea in a £97m deal in 2021, returned to Italy in August, joining Roma on a season-long loan.

The Belgian has bagged eight goals in 10 appearances for the Giallorossi with Cole left baffled by some of the calls made in west London.

‘You here all the buzz words around the club but at the end of the day, we can’t score goals,’ Cole told TNT Sport.

‘With Romelu Lukaku, for all of his faults, he was in the door. He was a success at Inter Milan, he scored goals at Everton and West Brom in this country, why couldn’t he score goals at Chelsea? What was wrong [with him?]

‘He is scoring goals now for Roma. So we have to look within ourselves, what is wrong with this club at the moment?

‘I don’t blame the manager one bit. Him and his staff are doing everything they can and I don’t even blame the players. They are all top players.

‘The squad is unbalanced, but there is something wrong fundamentally with the club at the moment.’