Lukaku enraged Chelsea supporters when he said he would not return to the club

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku has expressed his admiration for Inter Milan and its fans once more.

The Belgian striker is spending the season on loan at Inter, joining a year after leaving the Serie A giants for Chelsea for around £100million.

After hitting the ground running in his second spell at Stamford Bridge, Lukaku’s form severely dipped and he decided to drop a bombshell interview, explaining how much he missed playing at the San Siro.

The former Manchester United No. 9 never recovered his form and was often on the bench with Thomas Tuchel favouring Kai Havertz.

His interview was quite strange and ended up seeing Lukaku’s form dip and game time reduce, while many Inter fans were still p*ssed off at him for forcing a move to Chelsea prior to the 2021-22 campaign.

While this makes it sound like Lukaku did not get what he wished for from the interview, he ended up re-joining Inter on a season-long loan last summer.

Before the big-money move to Chelsea, the 29-year-old scored 24 and assisted 10 in 36 Serie A matches as Inter won their first league title in a decade.

This term has been a far cry from that incredible campaign, however. Lukaku has struggled with several injuries and has only managed five appearances.

In fairness to Lukaku, he scored in his only Champions League appearance despite only playing seven minutes and has two goal contributions in four league matches, completing the full 90 minutes of a match only once.

Around a year on from that bizarre interview, Lukaku has reiterated just how much he loves being in Milan.

The experienced striker believes the Inter fan base is “the best I’ve met” and says he ‘hopes’ to stay at the club beyond the end of this season.

“Inter fans are truly special; for me they’re the best I’ve met,” Lukaku told Sky Italia. “Even if we are in trouble, they are always there to help the team.

“I thought they were still angry with me, but they know I’ve always had Inter in my heart, even if I left.

“I had a few conversations with my team-mates; I told them the truth about why I left and why I came back.

“I hope to stay in the future too. For me, Inter means everything. Now I have to do everything necessary, together with the team, for Inter to win. Then we’ll see.”

Chelsea brought in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Raheem Sterling last summer and are poised to complete the signing of Christopher Nkunku, meaning Graham Potter may not want to use Lukaku in 2023-24.

source: https://www.football365.com/