It’s been a while now since the football world has seen the best of Romelu Lukaku, and the Chelsea loanee would appear to have some idea of where he’ll be playing next season after Inter chief, Beppe Marotta, gave his view on the situation.
The centre-forward has been dogged by injury and poor form over the last couple of seasons, and like any other player going through a tough time, his confidence has seemingly taken a battering.
Having joined Chelsea after a spectacular spell in Serie A with Inter, it was, perhaps, a surprise to see the player back at the San Siro just a season later.
Now the switch will reverse again as the striker is sent packing from his Italian sojourn.
“The loan was for one season so on June 30, regardless of how well he plays, he’ll go back to Chelsea,” Marotta told Sky Italy, reported by Sky Sports.
“This has been an unprecedented season – I’m referring of course to the World Cup. Lukaku hasn’t found the fitness he needs to play his best football.
“He’s still not at his best or the player we got to see in years gone by.”
Depending how things end up at the end of the current campaign for Graham Potter and his Blues side, it will be interesting to see whether it’s felt that Lukaku can offer the current squad something different.
That’s always assuming that the Belgian does actually want to continue his career back at Stamford Bridge.
Lukaku will still only be 30 years of age going into the 2023/24 campaign, and surely has a few more years at the top level left in him.
How he performs in pre-season may help to decide whether he remains in west London or moves elsewhere.