Thierry Henry has revealed he warned Romelu Lukaku against rejoining Chelsea and claims the Belgian doesn’t want to return to Stamford Bridge.
Lukaku Left Inter Milan for Chelsea in a £97.5million deal in 2021 but was unable to recapture the form that fired the Nerazzurri to Serie A glory the previous season.
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The 29-year-old managed just 15 goals in 44 appearances and his struggles in west London earned him a season-long loan back to Inter last summer.
Henry worked closely with Lukaku in the Belgium set up and the Arsenal legend revealed he told the striker that he would ‘find it difficult’ to flourish under the then-Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel.
“We had a discussion when he [Lukaku] went to Chelsea,” Henry told CBS Sports.
“I told him he’s going to find it difficult to play at Chelsea and that happened to be the case because of the way Tuchel liked to play.
“Pressing, the No.9 and winger have to change, but Rom likes to stay where he is – feed him, play him early, he will try to bully you, turn, stay in the box.
“He’s a different type of No.9 to what Tuchel wanted.”
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Manchester United great Rio Ferdinand has led calls for Chelsea to bring Lukaku back to the Bridge in the summer to fix Graham Potter’s attacking woes.
But Henry admits that’s unlikely to happen as the player doesn’t want to go back.
The French football icon continued: “Now, is he going to fit into what Potter is trying to do? I think they’re struggling with that, let alone with him in the squad.
“But what does he want to do? I don’t think he wants to go back, that’s the main thing, I think he wants to stay at Inter.
“And that’s where there’s maybe going to be a little clash if they want him back because I think he wants to stay there.
“The way when he came back. He said it, he said it the other day, ‘Everyone knows what I want to do, what I want to do is to stay’.”
Lukaku has endured a difficult campaign with injury and his future beyond this season is unclear.
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He did his hopes of staying at Inter in the long-term no harm by scoring his side’s winner against Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
His late winner handed Inter the initiative as they take a 1-0 win to Portugal for their last-16 second leg next month.
When quizzed on his future Lukaku made it clear that there is no dialogue between himself and Chelsea despite just four months remaining on his loan agreement.
“I haven’t spoken to nobody,” Lukaku explained.
“I focus on myself, the present, I don’t want to look at the future right now, it doesn’t make sense.
“Football is the present, the most important thing, I just want to perform and prepare myself for the next game at the weekend.”
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