Chelsea star Romelu Lukaku will sit down with the club’s new owners this summer to try and resolve “problems” which arose this season, according to the player’s agent. Chelsea’s main aim last summer was to bring in a recognised striker capable of taking them to the next level under Thomas Tuchel.
After it quickly became apparent Borussia Dortmund weren’t going to sell Erling Haaland, Chelsea moved swiftly to bring Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge. The Belgium international had rediscovered his best form in Italy at Inter Milan and had just led the club to the Serie A title.
He didn’t come cheap with Chelsea paying a club-record fee worth around £97million. But Lukaku initially hit the ground running, finding the net three times in as many games to start the season before the goals quickly began to dry up.
The 29-year-old then did himself no favours in winning over Chelsea fans after an interview he gave with Italian media surfaced about his hope to return to Inter. Lukaku has since struggled to become a regular in Thomas Tuchel’s starting line-up, but he’s enjoyed an upturn in form in recent weeks with three goals in two games.
There has still been some speculation on what Chelsea plan to do with Lukaku when the summer transfer window opens. And the striker’s agent, Federico Pastorello, insists they will sit down with Chelsea’s new owners to discuss the next step.
“I’m not the one to discuss technical choices, but it is obvious that there was a problem,” he told La Repubblican. “The numbers, however, must be weighted: he is the best scorer of the team this season, even with a lower playing time compared to his teammates.
“The situation must be carefully evaluated, now there’s a Champions League spot to secure, and the FA Cup final: Romelu is totally focused on that, we have not talked about anything else.” He added: “It’s nonsense to speculate on negotiations: Chelsea have just defined the takeover of the club, we still don’t know our new interlocutors, let alone if we can hypothesize talks with Inter, AC Milan or whatever. We have to be patient and wait.”
Lukaku will be hoping that he remains in the starting line-up for the FA Cup final against Liverpool on Saturday. The Belgian forward was left out of the first XI for the Carabao Cup final back in February, coming in midway through the second half.
He thought he had opened the scoring for Chelsea in extra time after appearing to beat the offside trap before finishing expertly past Caoimhin Kelleher. But VAR deemed Lukaku was marginally offside with Liverpool eventually winning the match on penalties.
Lukaku was not named in the starting line-up for Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final win over Crystal Palace last month either. Timo Werner was preferred through the middle with both Mason Mount and Kai Havertz playing either side of the German.
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