Three years after his £97.5 million transfer to Chelsea, Romelu Lukaku is close to returning to Italy with former boss Antonio Conte. After two temporary loan spells at Inter Milan and Roma, the Belgian is set to permanently leave the Blues for Conte’s Napoli.
Romelu Lukaku Close to Napoli Move
Details Of The Deal
As reported by renowned journalist Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea have accepted a proposal from Napoli of around £38 million as the total package. Around £25 million of it is guaranteed, while another £13 million could be achieved through potential performance-based add-ons.
Additionally, Lukaku agreed to a three-year deal with Napoli that would expire in 2027. Napoli manager Antonio Conte has pursued the Belgian striker all summer as the two of them hope to reignite their success from their time spent in Italy together.
Lukaku’s Underwhelming Chelsea Reunion
Lukaku’s return to Chelsea quickly turned out to be a catastrophic disappointment. Chelsea supporters expected the Belgian to remedy their infamous ‘number nine curse,’ but he only worsened it.
Since his big-money arrival in 2021, Lukaku only scored eight goals in the league and two in the Champions League. Following a Scudetto-winning campaign in which he registered 40 goal contributions in 44 games, the Belgian’s woeful record in front of goal for the Blues was universally underwhelming. However, the disappointment doesn’t end there.
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He sent the Chelsea fanbase into pandemonium after an infamous interview with Sky Sports during the 2021/22 season. Despite his recent transfer to Chelsea, the Belgian expressed his regret about leaving Inter and desire to return sooner than expected. Consequently, many Blues supporters viewed his messages as a lack of loyalty, and the ensuing controversy continued to burn bridges between Chelsea and the Belgian striker.
In the aftermath of the following years, Lukaku trained separately from the first team and went on loan back to Italy in consecutive seasons. He returned to his beloved Inter for a temporary stint before joining Roma the following season, but his form already started to massively decline. Lukaku never played for Chelsea again after his first season back, as he was always on the periphery looking for a permanent transfer departure.
Lukaku’s Chemistry With Conte
As briefly mentioned earlier, Lukaku enjoyed the best form of his career under Antonio Conte. The Belgian scored 64 goals in 95 games under Conte at Inter Milan en route to their Serie A title in 2021. Likewise, Lukaku earned Serie A’s Player of the Year award that season as he was one of the world’s most prolific number nine’s at the time.
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Ironically, Conte even lobbied to sign Lukaku back when he was Chelsea’s title-winning manager in 2017. It seems as if Conte knows what it takes to get the best out of the Belgian wherever he goes, and the two of them are close to being reunited at Napoli for the foreseeable future.
