Romelu Lukaku failed to fulfil the hype during his two spells at Chelsea.

The striker returned to the west London club in August 2021, after spending two years at Inter Milan. He was a key part of the Nerazzurri’s squad that won the title during the 2020/21 season.

Chelsea sent £97.5m to the Serie A side to secure Lukaku’s services for the second time. He managed 15 goals and two assists for Chelsea during the 2021/22 season. They sent him on loan to Inter and AS Roma before selling to Napoli in 2024.

Thursday’s edition of AS has published an interview with agent Federico Pastorello, who represented Lukaku when he joined Chelsea in 2021.

The newspaper explained there were several other clubs that had shown interest in the Belgium international before the Chelsea move. They asked the agent whether the Blues was the ‘right choice’ for the Belgium international.

Responding to that, he said: “No, clearly, in retrospect, probably not. In many ways, yes, because Romelu was included in the Ballon d’Or list that year, something that had never happened before, and it was a record transfer from the Italian league.

“In retrospect, maybe I, as an agent, wouldn’t...