Romelu Lukaku has opened his nightmare second spell at Chelsea and claimed that the club was trying to paint him as someone he was not.
Lukaku, 31, enjoy an impressive season for Napoli, where the striker scored nine goals in front of the side of Antonio Conte while they fight for the Serie A title.
The Belgian moved to Naples for £ 30 million last summer, three years after it is £ 98 million at the Blues from Inter Milan.
His return to Stamford Bridge turned out to be disastrous, because after a positive start he got out of grace and spent successive seasons on loan by Inter and Roma in Italy.
Lukaku insured a permanent exit in August after being forced to train with Chelsea's bomb team during the preseason, an experience he had also undergone in the previous summer.
And the 30-year-old, who also scored 85 goals in 120 caps for Belgium, opened that experience in 2023 and claimed that he felt that the club had tried to harm his image.
“I wasn't just in Chelsea,” he told the Italian Paper Corriere Dello Sport. 'Aubameyang and Ziyech were also outside the project.
'They made us changed to the dressing room of the youth. It is business, the club tells you that it no longer wants you and often where you end up.
'But if you want to leave, even for serious reasons, you don't have the option. They drag it out until the last moment, they carry you.
'Clubs have relationships with the media, and it doesn't take much to place a player in a difficult position or to create the wrong image.
'Believe me, I have seen things that I never thought I would do. One day I want to explain all this to younger players, who really works for them and who works against them. '
Lukaku – who only played 44 times in his second stint for the blues – also spoke about his time that worked at Inter under Antonio Conte and explained how the Italian helped to improve a characteristic of his game that he 'hated' during his time in England.
“Playing with my back to goal,” said the striker. “Conte was very clear:” If you don't improve this aspect, you can't play with me. ” No alternatives.
“I have to thank him, because what used to be my weakness turned into a force.”
Lukaku went score 21 goals for Roma last season, before his second spell in Chelsea finally ended.
His departure came 10 years after he left Stamford Bridge for the first time, poached by the blues from other stitches when he was only 18.
In his first stint, Lukaku could not score for Chelsea, but enjoyed fertile loan spells in West Brom and Everton, where the striker subsequently came to the Toffees permanently.
He seemed in Goodison Park and earned a relocation of £ 90 million to Man United, but his two years at Old Trafford accompanied much criticism, including accusations that he was overweight.
But the 30-year-old hit back with these claims and insisted that he was misinterpreted by fans and experts.
“In England they had the wrong idea,” Lukaku added. 'I was lazy for them, but I never responded to the attacks. I am someone who does his job and then goes home.
“In Italy the opinion is the other way around, here I am an employee. Now I am better than when I was at Inter. There I was 101 kg, here 99 kg. '
During Lukaku's time at both Chelsea and United, he played under Jose Mourinho, before playing again for the Portuguese coach in Roma last season.
It was often speculated that the couple did not see eye to eye, especially when Mourinho Lukaku sold when he was in Chelsea, but the striker refuted this claim.
“Nothing happened between me and me,” he explained. “Jose is a winner, I had him twice.
“I will never speak bad about him, he didn't have a top team at Roma, but he went all the way.”
In the meantime, Lukaku is only 31, but since he broke into the other -attached team of 16 years, he is in the middle of his 15th full season as a professional.
Lukaku, however, promised to continue to fight and reveal how he intends to end his career.
He added: 'I never thought of leaving the national team.
'I will not be a coach after that, but I want to end my career at other stitches, my favorite team. I promised my son. '
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