In 2019 he did everything to reach Conte at Pinetina and in two years he scored 64 goals to win the Scudetto. The breakup of the summer of 2021 forgiven thanks to the commitment shown, the goals and the exultation at the Juventus Stadium. And now…
– MILAN
“Some loves never end” repeat Antonello Venditti in his songs and Adriano Galliani in his speeches on the transfer market. This is also the case for the love between Romelu Lukaku and the Inter fans. A strong and reciprocated feeling that is favoring a complicated negotiation such as the one for the purchase of the attacker’s card by the viale della Liberazione club. Big Rom has become an Inter fan since 2019, very much an Inter fan: okay, he “betrayed” his team in the summer of 2021 to return to Chelsea, but four months after that choice, in an interview with Sky Sport, he had already regretted it . He loves Milan, its people and the public reciprocates. This is why there are so many Inter fans who expect white smoke and its stay at the Pinetina every day. No longer on loan.
COUNT’S ASSISTANCE
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The strong link between Rome and Inter was initially created by… Antonio Conte. The Lecce coach, who had just been chosen to replace Luciano Spalletti, asked for the Belgian striker who at United lived on the sidelines of Solskjaer’s technical project as his first essential signing. No alternative: for the former coach, who had tried in vain to buy him even when he was at Chelsea, there were no other options for the center forward role than Big Rom. In the end he was satisfied and Lukaku’s smile when he landed in Milan he immediately conquered the Inter fans who were terribly in need of a number “9” to forget captain Mauro Icardi, sold to PSG after months of friction thanks to the declarations of his agent wife Wanda Nara.
GOAL AND LAUTARO
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The “references” provided by Antonio Conte, however, alone are not enough to explain this strong love. The big boy from Antwerp put his own, a lot of his own into it: he began his Italian adventure with the handbrake on thanks to a less than ideal physical condition, but when the technical staff and the nutritionist Pincella gave him a shine, he became unstoppable. Despite the league’s halt due to the Covid pandemic, he ended 2019-20 with 34 goals, as many as Ronaldo in his first Nerazzurri season, and led the team one step away from winning the Europa League, lost in the final against Sevilla (in which he scored a penalty and the unfortunate own goal that decided the match). The bond with Lautaro Martinez was strong from the first moment and that feeling between the Argentine and the Belgian made both their fortunes: friends on and off the pitch, they looked for each other (and are looking for each other now) and undermined the defenses adversaries. A well-matched couple who churned out and churning out goals, exalting the people.
THE LITIGATION WITH IBRA
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Lukaku has often scored against Milan and when you score against the Devil in the derby, you rightfully deserve a place in the heart of the Inter fans, but he… went further: he had the courage to blatantly challenge Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the Coppa Italia derby from January 26, 2021, when the two arrived to face each other head to head on the field and to make an appointment in the tunnel for a clarification. Since Zlatan hasn’t been a favorite for the Nerazzurri for some time (thanks to his move to Milan…), Big Rom has become even more the symbol of the Curva Nord. In addition, the Scudetto, expected since 2010, also arrived in 2020-21, with the former United author of 24 goals in Serie A (30 in the whole season).
GOODBYE AND REPENTANCE
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In the summer of 2021 the twist: after Conte’s farewell and Inzaghi’s arrival on the bench, Lukaku asked for and obtained the transfer to Chelsea. He wanted at all costs to return to wearing the Blues shirt who bought him for 113 million and made him sign a contract worth 12 million euros net per season. The idyll with Tuchel, however, did not last long and in December 2021, during an interview with Sky Sport, Rome revealed his desire to embrace Inter and its fans again. The outbreak of war in Ukraine served him as a decisive assist because, without Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea and the farewell of his “Czarina”, the CEO Marina Granovskaia would never have been able to return to Milan on loan. All right, he showed that he wanted this “reunion” by cutting a net salary of 3.5 million, but it was Tuchel, who no longer wanted him in the locker room, who pushed with the new owner Boehly to close an operation… without logic. At least economically speaking, given that the Blues had bought Lukaku for 113 million from Inter and were giving him back on loan (for 8 million plus bonuses) 12 months later.
FORGIVENESS AND STADIUM
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Since his return to Milan, however, not everything has been easy for Big Rom: initially the Curva Nord didn’t forgive him for the “betrayal” and the double serious injury to his left thigh did the rest, keeping him out for months. The number 90 (the number 9 was on Dzeko’s shoulders; now that shirt awaits him instead…) suffered, but from February onwards people understood the economic (and not only) sacrifice he had made to go back to wearing the nerazzurri shirt. The chants for him returned to San Siro and Rome responded by showing affection and putting his face to it after a couple of hard and unexpected defeats. In Turin, in the semi-final first leg of the Coppa Italia, he then had the coolness to transform the penalty of the draw, in full recovery, between the buu and the racist insults of the Juventus players. That was the moment in which for the Interisti, Lukaku really came back to being… Lukaku. In the last month and a half of the championship it has been crazy in terms of performance: goals, assists and third place in Serie A guaranteed. It’s a pity about the involuntary “save” in the Champions League final following Dimarco’s conclusion, an unfortunate episode, which hasn’t changed the opinion Inter fans have of him: Big Rom is the striker that Inter Milan want and the Inter is the only team the Belgian wants to “embrace”. He said no to Al-Hilal’s money (tens of millions of euros per season …), but also to the approaches of Milan and Juventus, the rivals for whom “never, never, ever” (his words) he could have played. Now he is just waiting for the decisive move by Zhang and his leaders to go home. Some loves never end…
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