Report: Chelsea ‘instantly regretted’ loaning out this player in the summer

 - World Soccer Today-

Chelsea immediately regretted their decision to send striker Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan in the summer, according to The Athletic

A year after signing the Belgium international from the Nerazzurri for a whopping £97.5million, the Blues returned him on loan at the San Siro in the summer transfer window.

The 29-year-old has endured a disappointing season at Stamford Bridge, despite scoring just eight goals in 26 league appearances. It didn't help his cause when he gave a cryptic interview in December about his problems at Chelsea and his love for Inter Milan.

Despite signing the striker who led them to the league title in 2021, Inter have been stunned and appalled by the Belgian's decline in fitness.

In the first half of this season, Lukaku played a total of 256 minutes for the Serie A team before going to the World Cup with the national team. The 29-year-old missed his first game in Qatar and came on late against Morocco.

He looked lacking in confidence and quality after coming off at half-time in a must-win game against Croatia. The former Everton man ended up missing four great chances that could have sent Belgium into the knockout stages. Instead, they're out now.

We can understand Chelsea's thinking as their forward line has not scored this season. Summer deadline signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored just three goals in 12 appearances in all competitions for the Blues so far.

However, although this season and last season have seen Lukaku's available strikers in the lineup have difficulty scoring goals, it will not be much different, will it? So it might be a good idea to look for a new centre-forward in the upcoming transfer window.

We've done a good job recruiting strikers in recent years. Now is the time for us to think carefully about our next signing in the area and look for a player who will address our offensive concerns for the next 5-7 years.