Pochettino responds to Lukaku Chelsea return claims amid transfer exit links

Chelsea transfer news: Romelu Lukaku has been linked with a potential return to the first-team for Chelsea, but Mauricio Pochettino may have shut that down

It comes after a rocky few years for the Belgian international after he completed a £97.5million return to Stamford Bridge under Thomas Tuchel. The striker got off to a good start, but illness and injury plagued his playing time back at Chelsea until an interview discussing a return to Inter Milan and slamming his manager's tactics seemingly damaged relationships.

Lukaku wasn't playing nearly as much and going into the next season, a loan deal was facilitated so he could make the move back to Inter. Over the year, the 30-year-old was in and out of the side, but managed to find a better run towards the end of the spell, which ended in a Champions League final.

However, coming back to London meant further uncertainty over his future as the Nerazzurri appear to have turned elsewhere in the market. A switch to the Saudi Pro League was rejected by the player, while a deal with Juventus appears to be a non-starter because of some tension due to club rivalry.

It leaves the striker with very few options with just over one week of the market left to go this summer, meaning a solution will need to be found soon. Amid that issue of time, reports claimed that Pochettino had spoken to Lukaku about the possibility of re-integrating him back into the first-team.

The head coach has denied such claims though, having fielded questions from the media in his pre-match press conference before Luton Town on Friday. He said: "No, the situation has not changed."

When pressed on whether he could make a better impact on the first-team, with Raheem Sterling being used as an example this season,