Romelu Lukaku, who had been lauded as a hero by supporters, completed his season-long loan transfer from Chelsea to Roma on Wednesday.
Roma has not yet made an official statement, but Serie A’s list of completed transactions indicates that the deal is final.
After arriving at Ciampino airport, just outside the Italian city, on Tuesday, thousands of supporters met Belgium striker Romelu Kaku. His presence came as a relief to Roma after a rocky start to the new Serie A season.
According to Italian sources, Chelsea agreed to sign outcast Lukaku for this season after accepting Roma’s offer of about six million euros ($6.5 million). This gives the Italians the striker they have been searching for ever since Tammy Abraham suffered a knee ligament injury at the conclusion of last season.
In order to join Roma, who are operating under a Financial Fair Play settlement deal negotiated with UEFA, Lukaku has agreed to accept a wage reduction from about 11 million euros to roughly 7.5 million euros.
Roma’s failure to turn dominance into goals was clearly on display during Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Verona, which was their only point from their opening two games.
Chelsea, in the meantime, has spent the whole summer attempting to permanently dump Lukaku in an effort to stop the catastrophic signing that cost the Premier League side both his enormous yearly wage and a 115 million euro purchase fee from Inter Milan.
However, negotiations with Inter, where he was loaned back last season, apparently broke down after the team learned he had been covertly speaking to Juve and AC Milan, two of their biggest rivals.
Instead, he has reconnected with Jose Mourinho, his former manager at Manchester United, as the city club attempts to return to the Champions League for the first time since 2018.
AFP