Belgian international striker Romelu Lukaku will return to his former club Inter on a year-long loan after a disappointing spell at Chelsea, it was reported on Tuesday.
Inter have reportedly agreed to pay 8 million euros ($8.4 million) to Lukaku, who agreed to a pay cut to leave Stamford Bridge.
The Belgian returned to Chelsea last summer in a record £97.5m (€115m) deal for the London club, highlighting the deal was an emotional homecoming after playing for the London club between 2011 and 2011. to 2014.
But after scoring four goals in his first four matches, the 29-year-old starved long enough to score a goal.
Lukaku finished the season as Chelsea’s top scorer with 15 goals in various competitions, but the former Manchester United and Everton player scored just eight league goals.
In the last 15 league matches, he scored only three times. He appeared in a controversial interview on Italian television last December in which he admitted he was unhappy with the way Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel used him and hinted that he was already considering leaving, expressing his regret at leaving Inter.
And Tuchel punished top scorer Lukaku, who was one of Inter’s brightest weapons in the 2021 season and helped him win the Italian title, and briefly excluded him from the starting lineup until he had to apologize for his statements to the club and his fans in January.
Chelsea finished the season in third place in the league and won the Club World Cup, but were beaten by Liverpool in the Fed Cup and League Cup finals and lost the Champions League title to Long-Eared Cup winners Real Madrid.