Romelu Lukaku has admitted that leaving Inter to join Chelsea for a second time was a mistake.
The Belgian’s nightmare year at Stamford Bridge has culminated in a return to Inter on a season-long loan deal, where the 29-year-old previously enjoyed a successful two-season spell.
Lukaku returned to Chelsea for a fee of £97.5m and initially hit the ground running.
He put in a superb performance against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, opening the scoring, and also bagged a terrific goal against Aston Villa.
But the wheels soon came off for Lukaku, with an interview expressing regret at the manner of his Inter departure riling not only the club’s supporters but also head coach Thomas Tuchel.
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The German rarely used Lukaku thereafter, and he’s now conceded at the unveiling of Inter’s new home kit that heading back to west London was the wrong thing to do.
“The one right now,” Lukaku said when asked about the biggest challenge of his career. “You know, I left, it was a mistake.
“What we do in the locker room and on the pitch, the relationships we have with each other,
that’s really important… it’s also right for people to see that our team is really united.
“Inter have given me the opportunity to play at a higher level in my career.
I am really happy to wear this jersey, we hope to continue to grow like in the past years.
We have to continue like this if we want to reach the goal.”
Thomas Tuchel has hinted meanwhile that Lukaku’s Chelsea career may be over, despite Inter’s loan agreement not containing an option or obligation to buy.
The German told Sky Sports:
“Given the fact he’s just on loan, of course there’s a chance.
I don’t know if it’s very likely, but it’s not on me to give an outlook on that.
“We decided together with the owners that we’d let (Lukaku) go.
It was his wish to go, he had the possibility, we let him go.
We brought now Raheem Sterling, which gives us a lot of flexibility, a lot of mobility, a lot of attacking options at the front, even if we don’t recruit more players.”
