Romulu Lukaku has remained tight-lipped on his future beyond the end of the season ahead of his return on loan from AS Roma to parent club Chelsea.
Lukaku, 30, has not played for the Blues since May 2022 having spent last term on loan at Inter before securing another season-long stay in Italy, this time at Roma. The striker has scored 18 times in 35 matches so far, including in Thursday’s 4-0 Europa League win over Brighton.
There is no option-to-buy clause in Lukaku’s loan to Roma, and so the striker is due to return to Chelsea this summer with more than two years remaining on his contract. Mauricio Pochettino is set to look for attacking reinforcement this summer, although there are fears over Financial Fair Play constraints.
The club will be fighting the risk of breaching Premier League cash-loss rules given Todd Boehly's billion-pound spend since his 2022 arrival. A number of players are expected to be offloaded once again as a result.
When asked about his future by Italian media, Lukaku played a straight bat although seemed to hint that he had a preference: «I always try to give my best for Roma because I was in a difficult situation, many people don’t know what my situation was but I thank Roma so much for helping me.
»Would I like to stay for a long time? Guys, I don’t want any controversy in England, you know that (laughs). I have to be a bit intelligent, you see."
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Lukaku would help Chelsea's FFP strife whether he stays or leaves. If he was kept on by Pochettino, it would be one less transfer task to fulfil this summer. With 278 Premier League games under his belt, he would provide the
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