Bullet dodged! Inter CEO delighted Lukaku deal collapsed

Stuart Telford

• 25 Feb 2024 14:59 GMT
• 3 min read

Inter Milan were disappointed when their deal to make Romelu Lukaku's loan return from Chelsea permanent fell through last summer, but the club's CEO Giuseppe Marotta feels differently now.

Lukaku had fired Inter to the Serie A title with 24 goals in the 2020/21 campaign before completing a €113 million transfer to Chelsea, but things didn't work out at Stamford Bridge at he returned to the San Siro on loan last term, adding another 10 league goals to his account.

Inter and Juventus subsequently entered into negotiations for the striker now valued at €35m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm - enraging both sets of fans - and when no fee could be agreed with Chelsea, he joined Roma on loan instead.

Inter instead moved for Marcus Thuram, signing the France international on a free from Borussia Monchengladbach, and Marotta thinks it worked out for the best.

Chemistry wouldn't have been the same

"We had signed Thuram anyway, but if Lukaku had accepted we would've ended up with him, Martinez and Thuram," he told Paolo Croce of Italian newspaper il Resto del Carlino. "[But] maybe there wouldn't have been the same chemistry we have with Marcus and Lautaro."

Inter now find themselves top of Serie A, six points clear of Juve having played two games less, with Lukaku's former striker partner Lautaro Martinez top scoring with 20 goals. Thuram has added another 10 to the mix.

Lukaku is just one goal behind Thuram at Roma, but the Giallorossi are 22 points behind Inter in sixth, and recently parted ways with the manager that brought Lukaku to the Stadio Olimpico in Jose Mourinho.

The Belgium striker's future is therefore unclear. Chelsea are continually linked with a move for a new No.9, from Napoli's Victor Osimhen to Brentford's Ivan Toney, but Mauricio Pochettino could yet be replaced at the end of the season…