Lukaku shows why Chelsea nor Inter want him after Belgium World Cup exit

Suraj Radia

• Updated: 23 May 2023 09:00 CDT
• 3 min read

If anything summed up Belgium’s disastrous 2022 World Cup campaign, it was Romelu Lukaku’s painful performance as his side suffered a humiliating group stage exit in Qatar.

The Inter Milan forward came on at half-time during Belgium’s goalless draw with Croatia but failed to score despite having five shots including multiple from point-blank range.

Lukaku’s chances totalled to 1.98xG – to put that into perspective, Croatia’s entire team had 0.81, while eventual group winners Morocco had 1.35 across all three of their games.

NIGHTMARE: Lukaku's injury woes in recent times

The performance rounds off a disastrous year for Lukaku, who has been injured for the majority of the season, with his last start coming for Inter in August.

The 29-year-old is currently on loan at the Serie A side from Chelsea and Lukaku’s toothless display has done nothing to convince Inter to extend his stay at the club.

Chelsea have no interest in bringing Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge, with the striker having burned bridges at the club just months after they paid £99.5 million for him last summer.

Lukaku has netted just nine goals in his last 30 league appearances for both Inter and Chelsea and the decline in his form, combined with his fitness issues and failure on the global stage could end up leaving the Belgian in limbo.

Lukaku misses mark the end of Martinez and Belgium

With Morocco beating Canada to top Group F, Belgium needed a win over Croatia to reach the knockout stage of the World Cup but Roberto Martinez’s side crashed out of the tournament with barely a whimper.

The result saw Martinez leave his role as manager after six years in charge and could spell the end for Belgium’s ‘golden generation’, with their senior core slowly declining and dealing with dressing room issues.

Reports throughout the tournament suggested the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and Jan Vertonghen have had strained relationships and the turmoil was evident by the lack of chemistry on the pitch.

BUST UP: Belgium's dressing room disarray

Belgium scored just one goal all tournament, in their opening match against Canada, a game in which they were second-best and perhaps undeserved victors.

Martinez caused frustration, and potentially his own downfall, by opting to field high-reputation players such as Lukaku and Eden Hazard over in-form stars such as Leandro Trossard and Youri Tielemans.

Belgium have been in the top two of the FIFA rankings for the past five years but, with their squad being the fifth-oldest of all the teams in Qatar, it appears that time has run out on Martinez and the country’s best chance of bringing home the World Cup.