My Leagues

Countries

Lukaku will return to his prolific best after re-joining Inter

30/06/22
Lukaku will return to his prolific best after re-joining Inter
1094

Belgian international Romelu Lukaku has re-joined former club Inter on a season-long loan deal from Premier League Chelsea.

The Nerazzurri will pay a loan fee of around £6.9m, plus another £3.5million if Simone Inzaghi’s team reclaims the Serie A crown in season 2022/23.

Lukaku only re-joined Chelsea last summer for around £97million from Inter. The 29-year-old seemed determined to prove himself in his second stint at the south west London club. He made a decent start to life at Stamford Bridge.

However, the big striker didn’t fit into Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel’s style of play. That undoubtedly contributed to Lukaku’s underwhelming goal return of just 15 goals in all competitions, with only eight coming in his 26 Premier League appearances.

Lukaku looked like a different player in a Chelsea shirt than the one that terrorised Serie A defences for two seasons with Inter.

The forward scored 64 goals in 95 appearances for Inter, helping the Nerazzurri to their first Scudetto in nearly a decade in the process.

However, Lukaku never hid his love for Chelsea and had always stated that former Blues striker Didier Drogba was his idol growing up.

He also felt like he had something to prove with Chelsea after the club had sold him earlier in his career. The move was not the right one for anybody involved, however.

A return to Inter should see Lukaku return to the prolific scoring exploits of his first spell with the club. Many Inter fans have welcomed the Belgian forward back to the club with open arms.

However, the club's influential Ultras have already made it known that he needs to earn their respect back with his performances on the pitch. Judging by his previous spell at the club, Lukaku will regain that respect in no time, as he seemed to thrive in Serie A.

Serie A Regular Season
OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
1
Inter 92 36 29 5 2 67
2
Milan 74 36 22 8 6 29
3
Bologna 67 36 18 13 5 24
4
Juventus 67 36 18 13 5 21
5
Atalanta 63 35 19 6 10 26
6
Roma 60 36 17 9 10 19
7
Lazio 59 36 18 5 13 10
8
Fiorentina 53 35 15 8 12 13
9
Napoli 51 36 13 12 11 7
10
Torino 50 36 12 14 10 1
11
Genoa 46 36 11 13 12 -1
12
Monza 45 36 11 12 13 -9
13
Lecce 37 36 8 13 15 -20
14
Hellas Verona 34 36 8 10 18 -14
15
Udinese 33 36 5 18 13 -17
16
Cagliari 33 36 7 12 17 -27
17
Frosinone 32 36 7 11 18 -25
18
Empoli 32 36 8 8 20 -26
19
Sassuolo 29 36 7 8 21 -30
20
Salernitana 16 36 2 10 24 -48

Top trends