The 30-year-old Belgian striker returns to Serie A to join AS Roma having spent last season on loan with Inter Milan, helping them reach the Champions League final.
Lukaku is reported to have turned down a lucrative move to the Saudi Pro League.
According to the statement released on Thursday, August 31, 2023, by Chelsea football club, the 30-year-old striker will be reunited with former Chelsea head coach Jose Mourinho, who led Roma to the Europa League final in the previous season.
Mourinho briefly managed Lukaku in 2013–14, during the striker’s first spell at Chelsea, before the Portuguese signed him for Manchester United from Everton in 2017 for £75m.
“Romelu Lukaku has completed a season-long loan move to Serie A club A.S. Roma. The Belgium international, who joined Chelsea in the summer of 2021, spent the previous campaign on loan at Inter Milan,” the statement read in part.
Lukaku is also excited about the warm welcome from the new club supporters and has promised to do his best to raise the team.
“The welcome that this club and these fans gave me thrilled me and represents a further incentive to give everything for my new team,” Lukaku said in a video.
He said that he will work hard, be humble to game after game stating that he can’t wait to make himself available to teammates on and of f the field.
After making a £74m permanent move to Inter from United in 2019, Lukaku re-joined Chelsea for £97.5 m in 2021, but his return proved unsuccessful, and he has not played for the Blues since May 2022.
Lukaku did not travel with Chelsea for their pre-season tour of the United States, and despite still having three years left on his contract, he was not part of new manager Mauricio Pochettino’s plans for 2023–24.
The international striker has previously won the Belgian championship with Anderlecht, an FA Cup and a Club World Cup with Chelsea, and a Scudetto, an Italian Cup, and an Italian Super Cup with Inter.