Transfer News: Romelu Lukaku could return to Chelsea at the end of the season from Inter Milan
Inter Milan chief Giuseppe Marotta has hinted that Romelu Lukaku could return to Chelsea at the end of this season. The 29-year-old is currently on a season-long loan at Inter.
Marotta has said that talks with the Blues will take place about the striker at the end of the season. He believes that new coach Graham Potter may want the Belgian forward in his team. Speaking to Sky Sports Italia (h/t Daily Mail), the Inter chief gave his thoughts.
“It’s fresh news. I don’t know what the effects of the change of coach will be [for Lukaku’s future]. We want to get the best performance out of Lukaku, and then at the end of the season we will sit down and talk about him with Chelsea. I don’t know if a change of coach means that his return is automatic, it’s difficult to predict today.”
Thomas Tuchel was sacked by the west London club on Wednesday, with new coach Graham Potter taking charge on Thursday. Lukaku had a turbulent time at Chelsea last season which was also marred with controversy.
The Blues broke the bank in the summer of 2021 to bring back the Belgian to Stamford Bridge by paying a club-record fee of £97.5 million. He had enjoyed a phenomenal campaign with Inter during the 2020/21 campaign.
Lukaku had scored a whopping 24 goals in 36 league games for the Nerazzurri and led them to win the Scudetto in the 2020/21 season. But a return to London did not go as planned. The Belgian struggled in front of goal and ended the campaign with only 8 goals in 26 league games for the Blues.
He also created a controversy when last December he claimed he was unhappy at Chelsea. He seemingly criticised the then boss Tuchel’s tactics and suggested that he wanted to rejoin the Nerazzurri again. This led to hampering relations between him and the coach and the player was benched for most of the games.
The 29-year-old got his wish this summer when he was sent back to Italy on a season-long loan. He has found form again as he has scored one goal and assisted another in three games in the Serie A so far. But, it remains to be seen if he will be part of Potter’s plan for next season.
Potter has Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in his team currently. It remains to be seen what tactics are deployed by the new coach at the club. Whether Lukaku will be part of his side next season, remains to be seen.
More Chelsea News:
- Gus Poyet feels Mason Mount should be played in one position for Chelsea
- Emmanuel Petit is unsure if Graham Potter will succeed at Chelsea
- Thomas Tuchel was frustrated at Chelsea owners’ failure to sign Gabriel Jesus
Different managers are bound to have different strokes. Lukaku flourished under Antonio Conte at Inter Milan while he did not find that same success under Tuchel. Hopefully, Potter is able to make use of Lukaku otherwise the £97.5million we paid for him last summer would be a huge waste of finances.