Lukaku joins Roma on a season-long loan from Chelsea

 

After a torrid transfer saga, London club Chelsea have agreed terms to loan out Belgian striker striker Romelu Lukaku to Serie A side Roma.

Over the weekend, Roma representatives Ryan Friedkin and Tiago Pinto travelled to London for a face-to-face meeting with Chelsea officials to discuss the possibility of bringing Lukaku to Rome for the upcoming season.

Following negotiations, the two clubs have finally reached an agreement on a straight loan deal, with a loan fee estimated to be around £8m. 

Last season, Lukaku was loaned out to Inter Milan after his fallout with Chelsea due to a controversial interview in which he expressed his displeasure under former head coach Thomas Tuchel. 

Lukaku was eager to return to Italy and chose to move to Rome because of his desire to work with manager Jose Mourinho once again.

During the earlier part of this summer, Juventus engaged in discussions with Chelsea regarding the potential signing of Lukaku, a highly sought-after player in the football world. 

At the same time, Inter, the club where Lukaku spent his previous season on loan, also expressed interest in bringing the talented Belgian back to Italy.

Even Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal showed keen interest in acquiring the services of the 30-year-old striker.

It is worth noting that Lukaku was signed by Chelsea from Inter for a staggering fee of £97.5m in August 2021.

However, the Belgian stocks seem to have fallen tremendously. He underperformed during his loan spell at Inter Milan last season and was proven surplus to requirements by new Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino.

It was reported that to make this move possible, the Belgian all-time topscorer accepted a wage cut so that Chelsea will not have to cover any part of the £6m ($8m) salary he will receive in Roma.

He scored 15 goals in 59 games for Chelsea in his two spells at the club and is currently 20th on the Premier League all-time goal-scoring list with 121 goals.

Now Lukaku will once again be working with Mourinho for the third time after he had a brief stint under his tutelage at Chelsea before Mourinho signed him for Manchester United in the summer of 2017. 

Collins Nwokolo