Romelu Lukaku branded absolute ‘RUBBISH’ by Antonio Cassano

Carlo Garganese

• 18 Sept 2024 16:00 BST
• 4 min read

Antonio Cassano has slammed new Napoli signing Romelu Lukaku, branding the ex-Chelsea flop “rubbish”.

Lukaku has enjoyed a brilliant start to his career at Napoli, scoring two goals and delivering two assists in his first two matches - one of them as a substitute and the other as a starter.

Lukaku was introduced for his Napoli debut as a second half substitute at the Stadio Maradona on matchday three with his team trailing 1-0 to newly-promoted Parma.

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He almost scored with his first touch before blasting home a rocket of an equaliser in the 92nd minute. Napoli were not finished there as Andre Zambo Anguissa headed home a winner six minutes into injury time to give Antonio Conte’s men a 2-1 win.

Lukaku then started his first Napoli game at the weekend in the 4-0 thrashing of Cagliari, with the Belgian scoring one and assisting two.

Despite his brilliant start at Napoli following his summer move from Chelsea, Cassano is not impressed.

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What did Cassano say?

“What do I think of Napoli’s new centre forward? In Italy he makes the difference even at 60%, outside our country he’s rubbish,” Cassano said.

“This is a fact, yesterday [on Sunday against Cagliari] he struggled immensely despite the goal and the two assists. People only watch the highlights and do not carefully study what happens over the course of 90 minutes.”

Lukaku completed his transfer to Napoli this summer in a €30 million deal with Chelsea, signing a contract until 2027

Lukaku replaced Victor Osimhen, who moved to Galatasaray on loan after failing to get a transfer to a major European league before the end of the transfer window.

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Lukaku was not in Chelsea’s plans for next season following his return to the club after his loan at Roma this past season.

Lukaku at Chelsea

Lukaku initially rejoined Chelsea from Inter in the summer of 2021 for a then-club record transfer fee of €115 million.

But he was a disaster during the 2021-22 campaign, falling out with manager Thomas Tuchel, criticising the club publicly and performing poorly on the pitch.

Chelsea had tried to sell Lukaku since then but had been unable to find a club willing to pay the amortised cost of his transfer each summer.

As a result, he spent the 2022-23 campaign back at Inter on loan, and then last season on loan at Roma before joining Napoli permanently.