Romelu Lukaku is reportedly set to complete a move to AS Roma, after being left out of Chelsea FC‘s squad. Journalist Fabrizio Romano had provided a major update on Lukaku’s transfer saga by reporting that AS Roma have made a formal approach with Chelsea. The Italian club aims to sign Romelu on a season-long loan, with an option to buy. Lukaku has been reported to be looking to leave Chelsea since the last season.
The Belgian became one of the best strikers in the world under Antonio Conte at Inter Milan. He even helped the club win their first scudetto in 11 years. His consistent performance with Inter had led Chelsea to sign him back in 2021, for a massive fee of €113m. At that point of time, €113m looked quite justifiable amount for a player of Lukaku’s quality. He had a great start to his second stint at Chelsea. Having scored a goal against Arsenal in his second debut, Lukaku looked to be settling well in Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea squad.
Damaging his own fate
Things to a very ugly turn for Lukaku at Chelsea, which no one could’ve thought of. After a significant number of disappointing performances, Lukaku publicly came and out criticized Tuchel’s playing style. He even spoke about him not feeling ‘like home‘ at Chelsea while admitting to miss Inter. That was the beginning of Romelu’s downfall with Chelsea. The Belgian received a lot criticism for his unprofessional attitude, having come out and spoken about his own club like that. Lukaku has also never been considered in Chelsea’s plans since that interview. Therefore, the club has been exploring options to discard Lukaku since the summer of 2022.
Despite the disappointment with Chelsea, Lukaku had a revival of his career when he was given another chance by his former club Inter Milan. Inter signed Lukaku back on a season-long loan, with an option to buy. After a decent performance with them in the 22/23 season, Inter were strongly considering to sign the striker again. Lukaku even declined a mega offer from Saudi Arabia because of this. It looked like Inter were entering the finals stages of signing the striker from Chelsea. However, Lukaku again managed to create problems for himself.
In July 2023, Juventus were reported to try and sign Lukaku. Even though Inter were looking to sign Romelu, he decided to agree to talk with Juve, the big rivals of Inter. This led to a complete fallout amongst the fans and ultras regarding Lukaku. The Inter ultras and fans strongly protested against the permanent signing of Romelu, criticising his act of ‘betrayal‘. Even some players like Lautaro Martinez, publicly spoke about feeling ‘betrayed‘ by Lukaku.
Mourinho and Roma are offering a lifeline to Lukaku
Roma trying to sign Lukaku is like a ‘lifeline‘ being given to the 30-year old. Roma’s current manager José Mourinho, who was also the manager of the Blues during Lukaku’s first stint at Chelsea, still believes in the Belgian striker.
Despite the transfer chaos, Romelu is still an excellent attacker with strong technical abilities. As a result, few pundits/experts and fans believe that he will be able to have an impact at Roma.
According to Romapress, Roma are in the closing stages of a deal with Chelsea. As reported, Lukaku has even decided to reduce his salary to €7.5m, suggesting he is ready to move to Roma. Therefore, we can expect to see Romelu become a Roma player and reunite with Mourinho very soon.
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