Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku left Serie A in the summer, but their time in the Premier League is definitely not going as they expected.
Both strikers returned to England over the summer. Ronaldo re-joined Manchester United from Juventus for €15m plus €8m add-ons. Lukaku returned to Chelsea after almost ten years in a €115m move from Inter.
They were the most shining stars in the league, but halfway to the season, they seem to have lost more than their ex clubs.
This is especially true for the Belgian star who has recently apologised to Inter fans for the way he left over the summer, saying that he hopes to return to San Siro one day.
‘He wants to clean the mess up’ Chelsea boss Tuchel confirms Lukaku apologised
His claim caused a storm at Stamford Bridge as Lukaku also admitted that his second spell at Chelsea is not going as he expected.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel had left him out of the squad for the match against Liverpool on Sunday but reintroduced him to the team after the striker’s apology.
The Belgium international scored 64 goals in 95 appearances under Antonio Conte at Inter and has only managed seven goals in 18 games with Chelsea this term.
The bond with his former coach is still excellent and according to reports in Italy, they could reunite at Tottenham at the end of the season.
On the other hand, Juventus are struggling to replace Ronaldo in terms of goals but seem to have more chances to finish in the top four than Manchester United.
Ravanelli reveals Conte will try to sign Lukaku as Chelsea make transfer decision
The Portuguese ace had netted 101 goals in 134 appearances over three seasons at Juventus and the Bianconeri have now scored just 27 goals in 19 games, the fewest among the top ten clubs in Serie A.
Ronaldo has 14 goals in 22 appearances with the Red Devils but United are struggling in the Premier League. They sit seventh in the table and lost the first game under Ralf Rangnick on Monday.
United sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November, replacing him with the German tactician who was close to becoming Milan coach in 2020.
The Red Devils are four points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with a game in hand, but Conte’s Tottenham have two and would overtake Arsenal by four points by winning both matches.
Ronaldo is the best scorer in the history of the Champions League and surely did not expect to fight for a mere fourth place when he returned to Old Trafford in the summer.
Juventus are also out of the race for the title in Serie A and perhaps Ronaldo’s exit was a lose-lose situation for both the club and the player.
On the contrary, Inter have already moved on after Lukaku’s sale.
His replacement Edin Dzeko has scored 11 goals in 24 games and the Nerazzurri are the Serie A table leaders with a four-point lead over Milan. As we already wrote on Football Italia, Lukaku needs Inter more than the Nerazzurri need Lukaku.
@lorebetto
Really!! Who cares that these two are gone!!
Ronaldo will keep scoring goals for at least another couple of years, but his general level of play was very bad last season, and from what I hear that’s continued at Man Utd.
Said at the time that Lukaku would regret moving to that club. He may like the club, but they don’t like him and never have, and it’s questionable for a player to leave a team which is perfectly built around him, where he’s playing great football. Especially when he’d already seen the other side of things, i.e. Man Utd with no pattern of play, no chemistry, and absolutely no idea of how to use him.
Let them go, and don’t bother taking them back.
Yes, they are famous, but Serie A needs to find and keep top young players, not resign ageing “names” from the epl who arrive on huge wages.