Marina Granovskaia would have left Lukaku rotting in reserves
FT Desk
- 17 Sept 2022 16:31 BST
- 3 min read
Marina Granovskaia would have left Romelu Lukaku rotting in the reserves rather than loan him back to Inter Milan – according to Gianluca Di Marzio - had the former Chelsea director not departed the club this summer.
Lukaku completed his return to Inter Milan from Chelsea, joining on a one-year loan, with the Nerazzurri paying a loan fee of €8 million plus €4m in add-ons.
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Chelsea paid €115m for the striker last summer in the hope he would be the final piece in the jigsaw to take them to Premier League glory.
But he endured a disastrous 2021-22 season, scoring only eight Premier League goals.
He caused a storm at Chelsea in December 2021 after he gave an unauthorised interview to Sky Sport Italia during which he declared his unhappiness at the club, criticised manager Thomas Tuchel’s tactics and said that he wanted to return to Inter.
This infuriated Chelsea’s management, owners and fans, and Lukaku’s career at Stamford Bridge never recovered.
But Di Marzio claims that Chelsea would never have sanctioned Lukaku’s return to Inter had she not departed the club due to the fallout from Roman Abramovich’s enforced exit as owner.
What did Di Marzio say?
“I don’t think Marina Granovskaia would have allowed his return to Inter,” Di Marzio said.
“She would have kept him at Chelsea walking around Stamford Bridge, rather, or at Cobham. She would not have loaned him out to Inter.
“Probably, the situation the club was going through favoured this market deal.”
Todd Boehly became Chelsea’s new owner this summer and immediately allowed Lukaku to leave, and Di Marzio doesn’t see any way back for the striker.
“I really don’t think Lukaku will return to Chelsea. How could he play again in a Chelsea shirt?” he added.
“He has done everything to return to Inter. I think Chelsea and Inter will find the best solution, maybe another loan because in this deal Inter paid €8m for the loan and would pay another €10m for a new loan next year.
“The price would then go lower and lower if Inter decide to buy him back.”
