When Romelu Lukaku returned to Chelsea last summer, it was phrased by the club as a homecoming. The deal, reportedly worth £97.5 million, saw Lukaku return to West London, after leaving for Everton in 2014. The transfer saw him become the most expensive player of all time in terms of cumulative fees, with almost £285 million being spent on the Belgian during his career.
The season started well for Lukaku, who treated Arsenal’s Pablo Marí like a ragdoll on his return debut, scoring 15 minutes into Chelsea’s visit to the Emirates Stadium, early in the season. His dominating performance was a real statement, and it would have had him down as a favourite for many on the Betdaq bet exchange. In hindsight, Lukaku’s ability to dominate a back-up defender didn’t teach us much, and it wasn’t a performance that he could build on.
Thomas Tuchel’s approach of regularly changing his team from game to game didn’t seem to get the best out of his Belgian hitman. Lukaku found himself to be a rotating piece in Chelsea’s ensemble cast of attackers, including the likes of Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, and Christian Pulisic, rather than the star man, as he had been at Inter Milan.
The change of system didn’t seem to get the best out of Lukaku, and his body language suggested he was less than happy at Chelsea. Then, in December, things got worse. An interview with Sky Italia was released in which Lukaku expressed his dislike of Tuchel’s tactics. The most damaging part, Lukaku went on to say: “Now it is the right time to share my feelings. I have always said that I have Inter in my head. I know I will return to Inter, I really hope so. I am in love with Italy.”
Lukaku was dropped from the team and, after talks with Tuchel, Lukaku issued an apology, but the damage was done. Lukaku found himself largely a peripheral figure for the remainder of the season. It was far from the return that either the club or the player had hoped for but, ultimately, Lukaku didn’t do enough to force himself into Tuchel’s thinking. While the interview will be remembered as the death blow to his second stint at Chelsea, Lukaku struggled to replicate the form he showed at Inter Milan.
For the Italian club, Lukaku featured in a front two, along with Lautaro Martínez, and the two built a formidable partnership. Martínez is the perfect foil for another forward, and their interplay brought the best out of Lukaku who, despite his size, is better suited to linking with players around him, driving towards goal with the ball, and utilising his smart movement to make himself a threat.
At Chelsea, in and out of the side, and with Tuchel tinkering with his tactics on a regular basis, Lukaku was unable to get into the same rhythm as he did at Inter, and it showed in his performances, with the forward ultimately disappointing. Having spent the best part of £100 million on him, Chelsea are looking to return him to Inter Milan.
The West London side look likely to lose the vast majority of the fee they paid last summer, with a one-year loan costing a minimum of €8 million seeing the Belgian set to return to Milan ahead of next season. It’s the type of poor recruitment that has epitomised Chelsea in recent years and the club’s fans will be hoping that, under new management, their decision making will improve.
