Romelu Lukaku has now revealed Chelsea weren’t his first choice after deciding to leave Inter Milan in the summer.
The revelations came in the second part of his explosive interview with Sky Italy, having already slammed Thomas Tuchel.
While the interview was filmed over three weeks ago, its release in the last 24 hours ahead of their match with Liverpool on Sunday has not gone down well with Tuchel, who described it as ‘noise we don’t need.’
- ‘We don’t like it!’ – Tuchel criticises Romelu Lukaku after his controversial interview
- Romelu Lukaku hits out at Thomas Tuchel & reveals Inter Milan plans
Now, the Belgian star has revealed a return to Stamford Bridge in a club-record £97.5m only came about because he couldn’t get a transfer to Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern.
‘Last summer I went to talk to the Inter board and I asked for a new contract,’ he said. ‘I said: I’m 28, I wanted to plan my life in Italy with a new deal… but Inter said no. Maybe there wasn’t the economic possibility. For me it was difficult to accept.
‘There are 3 teams at top level: Barcelona, Real, Bayern. All the players dream of them, that’s the truth. I thought I was going to one of those clubs after Inter.
‘This didn’t happened and I said: there is only one club where I can imagine myself, it’s Chelsea. ‘Last summer I didn’t think about going to Chelsea until they really came with an offer. Simone Inzaghi behaved very well with me.
‘When Chelsea contacted me it was a challenge for me. Also because it bothered me a lot to have ever won Premier League titles in 8 years.
‘It was hard to turn down the chance to return to the Premier League in the club I support since I was a child.’
Lukaku has endured mixed fortunes at Chelsea this campaign which has seen him score seven goals but also go on a run of 10 matches without finding the net.
