Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku opens up on his time at Inter Milan despite struggling at Stamford Bridge
In conversation with Italian outlet AIC via Football Italia as quoted by Evening Standard, Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku spoke about his time at Inter Milan after receiving the Serie A player of the year award for the 2020/21 campaign. The Belgian striker trumped Cristiano Ronaldo to land the prestigious prize.
The 28-year-old striker formed a lethal partnership alongside Lautaro Martinez at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza last campaign. He developed into one of the most feared strikers in Europe under the tutelage of Antonio Conte, netting 30 goals and bagging 10 assists in 44 matches across all competitions for the Nerazzurri last season.
His performances saw the Blues fork out an enormous £97.5m to re-sign the striker, earning him the tag of the club’s record signing. The former Manchester United hitman has largely struggled to justify that tag ever since making the switch to Stamford Bridge before the start of this campaign.
He has only managed to net a paltry 12 goals along with two assists in 34 games for the West Londoners so far this season with a significant number of those strikes coming in the FA Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. Thomas Tuchel has seemingly preferred the option of playing Kai Havertz at centre-forward in light of the 22-year-old attacker’s recent run of form.
“The club [Inter] always backed us and so did the fans who I want to thank. The club [Inter] always backed us and so did the fans who I want to thank.”
Speaking to Italian outlet AIC via Football Italia as quoted by Evening Standard, Lukaku gave us interesting insights about his time with the Serie A club. The Belgian striker joined them from Manchester United in August 2019 and left two years later to reunite with the Blues.
“It’s an honour to have been named best player of the season. It’s something that I could not achieve without the help of the team. They helped me realize great things. We won together improving a lot. Everyone developed and the coach was always close to us. This award gives me a lot of confidence for the future.”
After a controversial interview with Sky Italia earlier this season, which saw him praise his ex-club and express his discontent at Chelsea, it seems that Lukaku has chosen his words more carefully this time around. It makes sense to wax lyrical about them this time as well, considering he won this prestigious award while playing for them.
End of the road for Lukaku?
After enjoying a great start for the Blues upon his second stint with the club, Lukaku’s form has largely drifted off track in recent months. Chelsea’s club-record signing has had to make do with chances in domestic competitions and a few minutes here and there in other major competitions.
It was also recently understood that the player is ‘unhappy‘ at the club and could be looking to force a way out of Stamford Bridge at the end of the season. There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the London-based club especially after a number of strict sanctions were imposed due to Roman Abramovich’s apparent ties with Vladimir Putin.
The Stamford Bridge outfit has shown that they can get through a gruelling schedule without much help from the Belgian. Despite his lack of form, Thomas Tuchel has backed Lukaku and insisted that the player is remaining positive but with such a significant amount of money invested, the club hierarchy may well be getting impatient.
The West Londoners would therefore do well to let go of their star signing if he isn’t fully invested in the project that is taking place at Chelsea. With Lukaku being their highest earner at the moment, his departure could also help remove a significant chunk of money from the wage bill.
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While Lukaku waxed lyrical about his former employers, Inter Milan, he is yet to get going for Chelsea. His consistent goal-scoring exploits in the Serie A seem to be a distant memory at the moment. That being said, the Blues are competing on several fronts and have a packed schedule ahead of them.
This should provide the ex-Everton hitman with a plethora of opportunities to prove himself with the Blues. Until that time, there are bound to be significant questions raised regarding the dedication and effort that he shows on the pitch every time he dons the Chelsea jersey.