Chelsea

Chelsea

Premier League • England

Romelu Lukaku vents spleen over disruptive Chelsea comments; agent likely target of anger

Chelsea ace Romelu Lukaku

Romelu Lukaku appears to have taken a swipe at his agent after claims he was looking to leave Chelsea and move back to Italy this summer.

Lukaku, who turned 29 on May 13, has endured a tough season after returning to Stamford Bridge last summer. The Belgium international has struggled to hit the expected heights while off-field incidents have marred his campaign. The former Manchester United hitman blotted his copybook in late December last year during an interview with Sky Italia.

He suggested he was not happy with the situation at Chelsea after manager Thomas Tuchel had changes the system. The Antwerp-born ace was dropped from the side and forced to apologise after stating he wanted to return to Inter “in the near future”.

Normally prolific in front of goal, Lukaku has netted just eight times in the Premier League while bagging 15 in all competitions. He has notched three times in his last two top-flight outings but rumours of unrest will not go away.

His agent, Federico Pastorello opened up on the forward’s situation to La Repubblica.

“He has the club and the fans in his heart, he has never hidden it, like his love for Anderlecht where he would like to end his career,” he said. “But we cannot think about negotiations.

“Chelsea are in takeover discussions, we do not know the new owners, let alone if we can open talks with Inter or AC Milan. We have to wait.

He added: “Lukaku has a problem, but we will solve it.”

Those words prompted a bemused Tuchel to suggest he knew nothing of any possible meeting between the star and the club’s new owners. And it seems that all is not well between agent and client.

Lukaku sets the record straight

There is no question that 2021-2022 has not gone to plan for the ex-Everton ace. It was thought his arrival in west London would see the Blues challenge for the title.

They currently sit third and are likely to finish in that spot. Tuchel and his charges will go again next season as they look to break the stranglehold of Manchester City and Liverpool.

Lukaku hopes to play his part and made it clear he is far from happy with comments that surfaced about his possible future plans.

Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel

“Never ever will I let someone speak for me,” he wrote on Instagram. “I kept my mouth shut and focused on helping the team and end the season in the best way possible.

“So if someone out there trying to say something about me and the club. Not in my name. RL.”

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