Romelu Lukaku looks set to return to Chelsea at the end of the season as Roma won’t be making his loan deal permanent, according to reports.
It’s fair to say that the Belgian’s return to Chelsea has been nothing short of a disaster. After splashing £97.5m on the striker in the summer of 2021, he has caused the club plenty of headaches.
Chelsea have tried their best to offload Lukaku in the last few transfer windows, but they have only been able to sanction loan deals for him up until this stage.
The 30-year-old spent last season on loan with Inter Milan and is currently playing for Roma. Despite a promising start to life in Rome, his form has tailed off in recent months.
Having only scored two goals in his last nine matches, frustrations have been growing over the Chelsea loanee.
According to reports from Italy, as cited by Football Transfers, Roma won’t be looking to take Lukaku permanently upon the expiry of his loan spell.
The Italian club don’t have the financial power to sign him on a permanent basis and his pricey wages would also cause an issue.
This means that the Belgian could be set for an awkward reunion with Mauricio Pochettino when his loan spell in Italy expires.
Reports from the summer claimed that the Chelsea boss wasn’t speaking to Lukaku when he arrived at the club as the forward was forced to train with the under-21s.
It doesn’t seem like there’s much of a way back for the Belgian forward at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea will no doubt be working on an exit strategy.
Lukaku himself wasn’t best pleased with his treatment over the summer as he spoke out last October while on international duty with Belgium.
“Most of the people here in the room know me. I don’t like beating around the bush,” Lukaku said.
“I’ll speak in time, but if I actually said how last summer went, everyone would be shocked.
“There were times when I really thought I might explode, five years ago I probably wouldn’t have stood back and done it.”
The 30-year-old has been the subject of interest from Saudi Arabia and that might be Chelsea’s best bet for offloading him in the summer.
While Lukaku is still good enough to cut it in one of Europe’s top leagues, the financial lure of the Saudi Pro League could prove tempting.
The striker is under contract at Stamford Bridge until 2026 and the club would be expected to make a significant loss on him when they do find a buyer.
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