Chelsea boss Tuchel upset Lukaku with "daddy" comment during Tottenham game
ChelseamanagerThomas Tuchelreportedly annoyedRomelu Lukakulast season by making a joke about the Belgian striker’s relationship withAntonio Conte.
Lukaku has been announced as an Inter Milan player for the 2022/23 season after Chelsea agreed a deal to send himback to Italy on a season-long loan. Chelsea shelled out a club-record £97.5million fee to sign their former player from Inter last summer, but have now offloaded him after just one season at Stamford Bridge.
Inter will pay a loan fee of £6.9m for Lukaku’s services next season, but will not be paying his £325,000-a-week wages in full. The 29-year-old is back in Milan and has now completed all the paperwork to ensure the loan will become official in the coming days.
READ MORE: Inter Milan ultras issue ominous warning to Romelu Lukaku over Chelsea 'betrayal'
Lukaku’s return to Chelsea never appeared to be a good fit, with Tuchel’s tactics at odds with the Belgium striker’s style of play. He scored just eight goals in 26 Premier League appearances last season and clashed with Tuchel by giving a controversial interview to Sky Italia in December in which he criticised the manager’s tactics.
It now appears that it wasn’t just tactically that the two were not compatible. Goal’s Chelsea reporter Nizaar Kinsella says that Lukaku was offended by a comment Tuchel made last season while the two were watching a Tottenham game together.
Speaking on theItalian Football Podcast, Kinsella said: “Romelu Lukaku was chatting to Thomas Tuchel while watching a Premier League match, a Spurs game, and Thomas Tuchel goes ‘There’s your daddy’ about Antonio Conte. It was just a joke, but apparently it didn’t go down very well.”
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Conte and Lukaku enjoy a close relationship, having worked together for two years at Inter Milan. The two combined brilliantly in the 2020/21 season as Inter won Serie A for the first time in 11 years and both have spoken about their fondness for each other.
When Conte left Inter last summer, Lukaku paid tribute to him on Instagram. "You came at the right time and basically changed me as a player and made me even stronger mentally and more importantly we won together!” he wrote.
“I will keep your principles for the rest of my career ( physical preparation, mental and just the drive to win…) it was a pleasure to play for you! Thank you for all what you did. I owe you a lot.. @antonioconte.”
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