Romelu Lukaku aims fresh dig at Chelsea over regular criticism - 'Blah, blah, blah'
Romelu Lukaku's second spell with Chelsea descended into chaos after a promising start but the Belgian believes that he was unfairly criticised during his time at Stamford Bridge
by Nathan Ridley · The MirrorRomelu Lukaku has launched an attack on his critics and claims that he was mis-profiled during his tumultuous second spell at Chelsea.
Lukaku, 31, left Stamford Bridge on a permanent basis this summer after spending the last two seasons out on loan. Chelsea paid £97.5million to re-sign the Belgian striker in August 2021, having first left the Blues seven years earlier.
After hitting the ground running under Thomas Tuchel, an unsanctioned and inflammatory interview mid-season turned the Chelsea dressing room and fan base against him, as his goalscoring form suffered a drastic drop-off. Lukaku was loaned back to former club Inter Milan for the 2022-23 season before spending last term with Roma.
Now at Napoli, scoring three goals and laying on five assists in his first six games, the 31-year-old has reopened old wounds while appearing on a podcast, Friend of Sports. "In England, they wanted to put me in a box," Lukaku bemoaned.
"They see someone built like me and think he's the new [Didier] Drogba, and because Didier did what he did they think I have to do the same. I'm not like that. Didier was more back to goal, he could hold up the ball no matter where you play it in from. That wasn't my style, bro.
"The narratives when I was in England was, 'he's lazy, he doesn't work hard, he's not a leader, he's selfish, first, he cannot hold a ball, blah, blah, blah'. I played 2 years at Inter, 'back to goal he's the best player in the world, he's top-five'."
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The ex-Manchester United star is so focussed on getting his career back on track that he's reportedly informed Belgium that he'll only play for Napoli until 2025, missing the first part of his country's Nations League campaign. Chelsea banked £30m from Lukaku's sale in August and crucially got his £325,000-a-week wages off their books.
Napoli manager Antonio Conte wanted Lukaku before United signed him from Everton in 2017 but he finally got to work with him at Inter. "I have always said that I wanted Romelu because he is an atypical striker," Conte said. "He is extremely tall and physically strong, but also very good at sprinting forward. His condition is still nowhere near optimal, but he becomes fundamental for us."
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