Inside Lukaku’s mind: stay at Inter or join Chelsea?
Chelsea have pounced on Inter striker Romelu Lukaku and Lorenzo Bettoni analyses whether the Belgian star should stay in Milan or return to Stamford Bridge.
Many didn’t see it coming. Achraf Hakimi was supposed to be the only Inter star to leave the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza this summer with the club’s owners Suning desperately trying to balance the books. The Zhang family tasked Beppe Marotta to end the summer with a profit of €80m between players sold and new signings, so Hakimi’s €71m transfer provided almost all the money the club needed to strengthen their finances. But Chelsea were waiting just around the corner.
Reports linking Lukaku with a return to Chelsea began early in July, with Il Corriere dello Sport and Tuttosport reporting the Nerazzurri star was not on the market unless the Blues were ready to break the bank offering more than €120m. Less than a week into August, that’s exactly what the Premier League champions are ready to do. La Gazzetta dello Sport, perhaps, went a little bit too far last week explaining why Lukaku would not return to Chelsea, highlighting four reasons why the Belgian didn’t want to move to the Premier League again.
Well, it feels like it was ages ago as, according to multiple reports, the ball is now on the striker’s court, who must decide whether to stay at Inter or return to Chelsea. The Serie A champions will only accept Chelsea’s offer if the player asks to leave, as selling Lukaku is not the only way they have to balance the books. But what is the player thinking right now?
Lukaku’s mind must be filled with mixed feelings right now. On the one hand, he has a club and a fanbase that always trusted and supported him, which has hardly happened during his career. Lukaku used to watch Adriano’s Inter as a child and winning the Serie A title with the Nerazzurri was a dream come true for him. The media environment is also much different than in England. Here in Italy, he is not criticised for his first touch or because he is supposedly overweight, which he’s never been true since his move to Milan.
Lukaku is now up there with the brightest stars of the league: Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paulo Dybala and many of his teammates who leaded Inter to their first Scudetto in 11 years. He is the leader of a team that easily won the Serie A title under Antonio Conte. In Italy, he has the respect and admiration he’s never received during his Premier League days, apart, perhaps, when he was an Everton player. In a way, Italy is the place where he became a top star because every little detail was perfectly aligned and helped him to develop further, scoring 64 goals in 95 games.
However, it doesn’t only come to emotions. Conte’s Inter side doesn’t exist anymore. Achraf Hakimi has left and, as of today, the Nerazzurri have almost no budget to strengthen the team. They signed Hakan Calhanoglu as a free agent and have been negotiating a lower fee than €5m for Nahitan Nandez loan from Cagliari. The Serie A champions are seriously struggling financially and even if Lukaku stays, they won’t have a better team than last season.
Romelu turned 28 in May and is aware there aren’t many opportunities to win important trophies. Life is fast, a footballer’s career is even faster, so he’d better make the most of every chance he has. On paper, over the next two or three seasons, he could lift more pieces of silverware at Chelsea than at Inter.
That being said, Lukaku didn’t have a great time at Chelsea when he arrived from Anderlecht ten years ago. He didn’t score a single goal in 15 appearances at a senior level over two spells and missed a penalty in the UEFA Supercup Final against Bayern Munich in 2013. Many see that mistake as the reason why he was sold to Everton only a few days later. Maybe that’s a bit too much, but for sure, that was the last time he touched the ball in a Chelsea shirt. Until when?
The Blues would almost double his €7.5m-a-year wages at Inter, but Lukaku’s main motivation to leave Inter would be his desire to win more trophies than the need to earn more money.
Inter fans and the club as a whole have given him a lot over the last two seasons. He’s given a lot too, but many Inter supporters hope he can snub a move to Chelsea given his strong bond with them and the club. Inter and Lukaku have a special relationship, but that may not be enough to convince the player to stay. The 28-year-old left Chelsea amid harsh criticism eight years ago and could return now as one of the best strikers in the world and the most expensive player ever sold by a Serie A club. A return to Stamford Bridge would be a new challenge and Lukaku is feeding himself with the competition. Ask Ibra if he knows anything about it.
Lukaku’s last picture posted on social media shows him sitting on a couch on the terrace of his apartment in Milan during the golden hour. Many saw it as further proof of the love he feels for the city and the club. Perhaps it was a way to say goodbye to a place that has given him more than any other.