Antonio Conte has praised Todd Boehly for allowing club-record signing Romelu Lukaku leave on loan this summer back to Italy, a type of decision that the previous owner may not have done.
Since Boehly completed his £4.25billion takeover in the back end of May, all focus on his end has been on sorting out this Chelsea squad for manager Thomas Tuchel. As well as wanting many incomings, the German has indicated a major re-shuffle in certain areas of the team. Key players Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen have left in defence. This will be followed shortly by Marcos Alonso whose Barcelona move is set to go through imminently.
Up top, Timo Werner has left permanently to re-join RB Leipzig whilst Lukaku himself was the first one up top to get his wish granted of a loan move at the very least back to a club where he played a huge role and helped break the Juventus axis at the top of the league. Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi could also be off if suitable moves away can be secured for the pair. On the £97.5m man, Conte was the person to get the best out of him in 2020-21 and since his exit from Internazionale himself, the Italian has always held a special place In his heart for a strike who did so much for him and his team on the pitch.
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But when analysing the 29-year-old's whole tenure on his Stamford Bridge homecoming, the former Chelsea manager vindicated the old regimes decision to bring him back but believes a return to Italy was what was needed for the player in question.
Speaking ahead of Chelsea vs Tottenham this weekend, he said in the embargoed part of his press conference: "We are talking about a big amount of money for a player and I think we are talking about a really important striker in the world.
"But sometimes a situation outside of football happens and I think Romelu lived two years in Milan and he was the king. The fans showed him a lot of passion and I think he’s a guy who needs this.
"And for this reason, I think he wanted to go back to Milan. But, for sure, the signing was a good signing for Chelsea. Then, you know very well there are players that need more time to make an impact."
Lukaku attained 18 goal contributions in his homecoming to England last season and ended the 2021/22 campaign as the joint second top scorer in the Premier League for the Blues (8) behind Mason Mount (11). Many who analysed his game believed that Belgium's all-time top goalscorer just wasn't suited to the league anymore, something that Conte disputes highly.
He added: “He has the potential to play in the Premier League. I remember very well when he started to play last season, he played really well and you in the media said Lukaku is really strong.
"A lot of things can happen for the confidence to drop. Now it's right for him to play for an important club in Italy to try to get again confidence in himself. We're talking about a really important, a really good striker."
Chelsea fans- what do you make of Antonio Conte's comments in this situation? Leave your thoughts in the comments sections below!
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