Will Christoph Freund bring Lukaku back to Chelsea?
FT Desk
- 20 Sep 2022 02:45 CDT
- 3 min read
Christoph Freund has no current plans to bring Romelu Lukaku back to Chelsea, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Chelsea are closing in on the appointment of Freund as their new director of football, which will see him take charge of the club’s transfer policy.
It has been suggested that the arrival of Freund could see Lukaku – currently on loan at Inter - handed another chance to succeed at Chelsea.
What did Romano say about Lukaku?
“Nothing has changed between Romelu Lukaku and Chelsea,” Romano wrote in his CaughtOffside column.
“The point is the player, he’s only focused on Inter project and he hopes to continue there also next season.
“No one called him on the Chelsea side, so I think the comeback is not a priority for both club and player.”
Lukaku completed his return to Inter Milan from Chelsea this summer, 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.
Lukaku has also had a stop-start time back at Inter this season and has missed the last month due to injury.
He enjoyed a brilliant spell at the club from 2019 to 2021, leading Inter to the Scudetto at the end of his second season.
