by Nizaar Kinsella, BBC Sport football news reporter
Lukaku’s time at Chelsea has been nothing short of a disaster as he has failed to deliver on the initial £100m investment made in the Roman Abramovich era.
“One of the most prolific strikers in European football, Lukaku has returned to the club he supported as a young boy and where he has unfinished business, having been on our books between 2011 and 2014,” read Chelsea’s statement in 2021.
To all intents and purposes, the Belgium international felt like the missing piece of the puzzle in a hard-working, defensive Thomas Tuchel team who won the Champions League but lacked real firepower up front.
However, frustrations over game time following an ankle injury in December 2021 led to an unsanctioned interview with Sky Italia where he said he thought the top three teams in the world were “Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich”, revealed it was “tough to accept” his Inter exit, questioned Tuchel’s system and said he was “not happy”.
Lukaku would apologise through the club after former director Marina Granovskaia and manager Tuchel got involved.
But the damage was done with the club’s supporters and his form dipped after losing their backing.
From that summer, Lukaku wanted to leave and Chelsea’s new ownership were happy to oblige but they have struggled to sell him, leading to loan moves back to Inter and again to Roma.
The Blues recouped £15m in loan fees and a further £30m by selling the striker to Napoli but history will remember Lukaku’s spell at Chelsea as an unmitigated waste of time and money.
