Romelu Lukaku sends Chelsea a message as Napoli race clear in Serie A

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 30 Oct 2024 10:32 GMT
• 4 min read

Romelu Lukaku sent Chelsea another message on Tuesday evening with a monstrous performance against AC Milan that sees Napoli race clear at the top of Serie A.

Napoli defeated Milan 2-0 at San Siro to move seven points clear of second placed Inter (who have a game in hand) after 10 rounds of the season.

Lukaku was man of the match with a trademark opener as he took a pass into his stride with a wonderful first touch before bullying Milan defender Strahinja Pavlovic to the ground and slotting the ball past Mike Maignan.

Lukaku held the ball up wonderfully throughout the game and his strike-partner Khvicha Kvaratskhelia added a second with a long-range striker to secure three big points.

So far this season, despite having no pre season and still working his way to full match fitness, Lukaku has an impressive four goals and four assists in just 570 minutes of Serie A football. He also has an assist in 14 minutes of Coppa Italia action.

Lukaku has had a huge impact on this Napoli team since joining from Chelsea, having been specifically requested by new manager Antonio Conte this summer.

Immediately from his debut he hit the ground running. He was introduced for his 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 Conte’s men a 2-1 win.

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

His presence has led to Napoli already opening up a gap at the top of the table. They have conceded just one goal in their last eight matches, and look a serious Scudetto threat to champions Inter Milan and fellow challengers Juventus.

Chelsea will be looking on wondering whether they made the right decision selling Lukaku to Napoli this summer, given it is well accepted that the Blues are still lacking a top-class number nine.

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.