Romelu Lukaku ‘turned down offer’ from Manchester City in 2020, originally wanted to stay at Inter Milan in the summer
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Updated 31/12/2021 at 13:41 GMT
In the second part of an interview with Sky Sport in Italy, Romelu Lukaku claims he declined a return to the Premier League with Manchester City after one year in Italy and says if he had been offered a new contract at Inter, he would not be at Chelsea now. His boss, Thomas Tuchel, has said the striker’s comments on his happiness at the club earlier in the month are "not helpful".
'We don’t like it, it's not helpful’ - Tuchel critical of Lukaku's 'unhappy' comments
Romelu Lukaku claims he turned down an offer to join Manchester City in 2020, after one year at Inter Milan.
In comments which could infuriate Chelsea fans further, having said he was unhappy about his role at the club, he also revealed he would not have returned to Stamford Bridge had Inter Milan offered him a new contract after winning the Scudetto at the end of last season.
The remarks come from the second half of an interview with Sky Sport in Italy, the first of which led to his current boss Thomas Tuchel saying it was drawing attention which was “not helpful”.
Lukaku spoke to the broadcaster earlier this month, before he returned to form on Boxing Day with a goal at Aston Villa and followed that up with another against Brighton.
The Belgium striker said he would continue to be “professional” despite being played in a system which did not suit him under the German, who is due to speak to his player about the matter in private. But it has now been revealed that he could have ended up with the Premier League champions instead.
"When I was at Inter, at the end of the first year, I turned down an offer from Manchester City which was higher than Chelsea's this summer," Lukaku told Sky Sports.
"I did it because it had only been a year, it wasn't the right time to leave and I didn't want to. I wanted to do something good for Inter, because I have to say that Inter saved my career to some extent.
"I was in a deep hole at Manchester United, things weren't going well. I was a big investment for Inter but we did great things together.”
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'We don't have to hug each other' - Tuchel on Lukaku being 'unhappy'
Lukaku says it was “tough to accept” that Inter did not want to offer him a new contract, after he requested one at the end of last season. The 28-year-old said he could see himself settling in Italy with his family, but realised that was not going to be possible.
“In my head I told myself that I would be able to do a few more years in Milan,” he said.
"It didn't happen, so I told myself that there is only one team where I could possibly see myself - Chelsea. I wasn't thinking about going there, but at one point they came in for me and I asked Inzaghi to leave.
The fact that they didn't try to make me sign a new contract bothered me a bit, it hurt me even. If Inter offered me a new contract, I would have stayed 100 per cent. That goes without saying.
"Also the fact that I hadn't won anything in England in eight years there bothered me a lot. So it was hard to turn down the chance to come back here with the team I have supported since I was a child."
Lukaku is likely to line-up in Chelsea’s must-win Premier League game with Liverpool on Sunday.
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