Romelu Lukaku wants to return to Inter Milan this summer after less than 12 months at Chelsea if the two clubs can agree a deal.
The Belgian returned to Stamford Bridge for a second spell having previously played there as a youngster. The Blues shelled out a club record £97.5m fee for the forward but he scored just eight Premier League goals despite being seen as the missing piece of the jigsaw.
Thomas Tuchel has been vocal in his criticism, previously leaving the player on the bench at times. The final decision on Lukaku's future will be taken by the club's new owners with a Todd Boehly-led consortium finalising their takeover recently, and they're facing taking a major hit, reports the Mirror's John Cross.
Inter cannot afford to sign Lukaku on a permanent deal and Chelsea will be looking to recoup as much of the £97.5m as possible. The Belgian spent two years at the San Siro, winning the Serie A title in his second and final campaign.
But he has also split from his agent, signing with a new lawyer, which means the situation could drag on throughout the summer, while Chelsea face FFP issues if they just attempt to give him away for cheap.
During his time in Italy he scored 64 times and had marked himself out as one of Europe's elite strikers. He'd previously shown his quality in England with Everton and Manchester United, but could not replicate that at Chelsea.
Lukaku's season seemed to derail when he gave an interview suggesting he wanted to return to Inter back in December. He told Sky Italia: “Now it’s the right time to share my feelings. I have always said that I have Inter in my heart: I know I will return to Inter, I really hope so. I am in love with Italy, this is right moment to talk and let people know what really happened.
“I really hope from bottom of my heart to return to Inter not at the end of my career, but when I’m still at top level to win more together. I want apologise to the Inter fan, timing of my words was wrong: what you did for me will remain forever”.
Lukaku was left out by Chelsea following his confession and later performed a u-turn in an interview with the club. He said: “To the fans I’m sorry for the upset that I’ve caused. Obviously it’s up to me now to restore your trust, and I’ll do my best every day to show commitment on the training ground and in games to make sure we win games.
“I think I should have been much clearer in my message to be honest. The interview was about saying goodbye to the Inter fans, it was not about trying to disrespect the (Chelsea) fans, the football club, the owner, my teammates, the technical staff. Because they made a lot of efforts for me to come back here and I wanted to come back here.”
