– Romelu Lukaku says Inter Milan got him out of a deep hole at Manchester United and admits he was only ever going to leave the Serie A champions for Chelsea.
– The Belgian striker made the move to Italy in 2019 after a tough final few months at Old Trafford where he fell out of favour under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
– Lukau was in top scoring form at San Siro as his 64 goals in 95 appearances gave Inter to a first Serie A title in 11 years and earned him a £97.5m move back to Stamford Bridge – which he admits was a head-turner.
– “I was only going to leave Inter Milan for Chelsea,” Lukaku told HLN. “Kids love Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United. And Chelsea for me, everyone knows what Chelsea means to me.
– “If they ask me, why would I say no? I only realised that Chelsea was serious at the third offer. So it was €100m (£85m), then it was €105m (£90m), and then it went to €110m (£94m). Then I knew, this is truly serious.
– “I was in a deep hole at Man United. I didn’t want to go behind Inter’s back.
– “So after training I went to [Inter boss Simone] Inzaghi’s office. I didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere because I was no longer with my head in Milan. So I asked him: please find an agreement.”
– Having rejoined the club 10 years later, the 28-year-old has settled in quickly and scored on his second debut against Arsenal in August, and is adamant Thomas Tuchel’s style of play suits his game.
