Only one thing can ruin Romelu Lukaku’s hopes of reigniting his love affair with Internazionale this summer: money. Take the finances out of the equation and everything would be so straightforward. Lukaku would be free to move back to a league more suited to his talents, Inter would be reunited with the striker who fired them to the Serie A title in 2021, and Chelsea would be able to move on from a player who has spent the past 10 months putting together a strong claim to be the worst signing of the Roman Abramovich era.
It has been a disaster. Lukaku has not settled since joining Chelsea for £97.5m last summer and Thomas Tuchel will not stand in his way if a deal with Inter can be agreed. There is little trust between the pair, little desire to adapt to each other’s needs, little sign that they will ever be on the same wavelength. It is not a productive relationship and at this stage, with Lukaku clearly unsuited to Tuchel’s system and keen to force his way back to Inter, it is difficult to see what Chelsea would gain from hanging on to the Belgian.
