Conte shoots down talk of Lukaku joining Spurs
FT Desk
- 4 Jan 2022 08:56 GMT
- 4 min read
Antonio Conte has refused to discuss a possible move for Romelu Lukaku, describing such talk as “disrespectful”.
The future of Lukaku at Chelsea has been thrown into doubt following a sensational interview that the striker gave to Sky Italia which aired last week.
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During the interview, Lukaku declared that he was unhappy at Chelsea, criticised manager Thomas Tuchel and expressed regret for leaving Inter last summer.
The Belgian also said that he hoped to return to Inter while he was still at the top level and that his former teammate Lautaro Martinez would not join Chelsea as he would be rejoining the Argentine at San Siro.
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This sparked fury at Chelsea with manager Tuchel admitting in his pre-match press conference that the interview was “not helpful” and subsequently dropping him for Sunday’s Premier League draw against Liverpool, with the ex-Inter star not even selected on the bench.
It is understood that Lukaku held talks with Tuchel and the club on Monday where things were slightly smoothed over and the striker is expected to be available for selection for the Carabao Cup game against Conte’s Tottenham on Wednesday.
It was with Conte between 2019 and 2021 that Lukaku played the best football of his career, as the pair led Inter to the club’s first Scudetto in 11 years.
The close relationship between Conte and Lukaku has led to reports, including in the Gazzetta dello Sport, that Tottenham could make a bid for the player.
This could form part of a possible exchange with Harry Kane, who infamously tried to engineer a move away from Spurs last summer.
But, ahead of Wednesday’s game, Conte refused to talk about Lukaku’s transfer situation and the rumours about a Spurs bid.
What did Conte say?
“Honestly, I’d like to not speak about Romelu because Romelu now is a player of another team and I think it’d be disrespectful to speak about him and also about Chelsea,” Conte told reporters.
“For me, for sure it’ll be great to come back to Stamford Bridge. It’s the first time after I left Chelsea as manager to come back to Stamford Bridge. I spent two amazing seasons, I created a lot of friendships at the club, we did a really important, good job and I enjoyed working there.
“Also because I have to thank Chelsea because they gave me the possibility to work in England and have my first experiences in England. Now, for sure, I’m the manager of Tottenham and I want to give this club 100 per cent and more to try to improve the team. It’ll be good and for sure I’ll have emotion to come back to Stamford Bridge.”
Conte is still unbeaten in domestic competition since taking over at Tottenham, leading the club to the cusp of the Champions League places in the Premier League.
