Chelsea have paid the price for buying into Romelu Lukaku 's promise that he had matured after the striker's loan move to Inter Milan was confirmed.
Lukaku returned to Stamford Bridge last summer and promised to help fire the Blues to titles, but it proved to be a disaster for all concerned - apart from Inter, who pocketed £97million. The Belgian scored just eight goals in the Premier League as the Blues fell away from an expected title challenge.
That failure to win any trophies saw Lukaku break a promise he made when his return was announced. He first departed Stamford Bridge in 2014 as a 21-year-old, having failed to find regular first-team minutes at the Blues, despite a series of impressive loan spells at other top-flight clubs.
But having been named the Serie A Footballer of the Year as Inter won the Scudetto in 2020/2021, Lukaku insisted he had developed into a more mature player. Though he admitted to having experienced 'ups and downs', he was confident that he could fire the Blues to a new era of success.
"I’m happy and blessed to be back at this wonderful club. It’s been a long journey for me: I came here as a kid who had a lot to learn, now I’m coming back with a lot of experience and more mature," he told Chelsea TV.
"The relationship I have with this club means so much to me, as you know. I have supported Chelsea as a kid and now to be back and try to help them win more titles is an amazing feeling.
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"The way the club is going fits my ambitions perfectly at 28 and just coming off winning Serie A. I think this opportunity comes at the right time and hopefully we can have a lot of success together.
"Since I left Chelsea, it’s been a long journey with a lot of ups and downs, but these experiences made me strong and the challenge is to try to help the team win some more trophies. I can’t wait to get started and to help the club achieve more success."
Lukaku spectacularly failed to deliver on those promises, with his season blighted by frequent reports of his unhappiness at the Blues. While Tuchel remains manager, it is hard to see a way back for him, even if his loan to Inter is a success.
That means that Chelsea will have to take a huge hit on the 29-year-old, just a year after they paid out a club-record fee to bring him back to London. With Timo Werner also having failed to hit the heights expected of him, Chelsea will now have to find a new front-line striker to provide the goals they need to challenge for silverware.
They will have to be wary that they do not fall down the same trap that led them to bringing in Lukaku. The deal blew up in their faces as they opted to believe Lukaku's insistence that he was ready to put the team on his shoulders, something they must avoid doing again.
