Chelsea receive bad news from Inter over Lukaku

Cameron Smith

• 27 Feb 2023 15:32 GMT
• 3 min read

Chelsea have been given an update on the potential future of striker Romelu Lukaku.

Lukaku, 29, is currently on loan at Serie A giants Inter Milan after he fell out of favour under Thomas Tuchel last season.

The Belgian international delivered a controversial interview with Sky Italia in late 2021, in which he revealed he would like to return to Inter, the club he'd left to re-join Chelsea.

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Tuchel reacted by preferring Kai Havertz in the centre-forward role, demoting Lukaku to the bench. With Tuchel still in charge last summer, Chelsea loaned Lukaku back to Inter.

However, his form back in Italy has been subpar, netting just two goals and providing one assist in 12 Serie A games. He also had a nightmare World Cup, missing several sitters after coming off the bench against Croatia. Belgium crashed out in the group stages.

Lukaku is set to return to his parent club Chelsea at the conclusion of the 2022/23 season, but his future remains unknown.

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Current Chelsea boss Graham Potter may want to integrate him into the side, or he could want the Belgian to be sold as Christopher Nkunku is set to join from RB Leipzig.

Inter CEO Giuseppe Marotta has provided an update on what this summer could look like for Lukaku.

What has been said?

Marotta told Sky: "Lukaku to stay also next year? It’s too early to decide, he will return to Chelsea and we will see what’s next.

“Lukaku wants to stay at Inter, for sure — we know Romelu’s intention and so we will see if we can negotiate his return here."

Lukaku has a contract at Chelsea that runs until 2026, and it seems he will return to the club this summer, which may come as bad news for the Blues.

With Champions League prize money almost an impossibility next season given their woeful run of results in the Premier League, Potter's side will likely need to raise funds this summer in order to comply with Financial Fair Play.

Lukaku is a valuable asset and could be sold for a decent fee, plus removing his wages from their weekly bill will also help the finances of a club who have spent big in the past 12 months.