Federico Pastorello, Romelu Lukaku’s agent, revealed to the media that Premier League defenders Manchester City tried signing the Belgian striker back in 2020.
Chelsea paid £98 million to complete a deal that saw the Belgium international return to Stamford Bridge, after two impressive seasons at San Siro, in the summer.
According to Pastorello, the former Old Trafford striker could have ended up playing at a different Premier League club last year, as it was revealed that City, who is always listed in the list of bet for BTTS in the match every week, made a move for the forward at the end of the 2020/21 season.
For reasons caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the move ultimately failed to materialise. Lukaku’s agent spoke to The Telegraph, saying: “I think I can say without disappointing anybody that Manchester City came in the year before.
“During the pandemic, it was very complicated because of trying to fly to places to meet people. It started very concrete and very serious, but eventually, they changed their idea or they were not ready to make it happen.
“Honestly, it was very difficult after the first year – it was almost impossible. He hadn’t won the league with Inter and he wanted to do that, and it would have been really impossible. Then they [City] focussed on Harry Kane this summer.”
Lukaku was shown to be happy after helping Inter Milan secure their first Scudetto in 11 years last season, but he was quick to return to Chelsea after the English club made him their No 1 target in the summer. In his two seasons with the Italian giants, he was able to register 64 goals in 95 appearances in all competitions.
Pastorello claimed that the Belgian striker had some doubts about joining the club initially, but his advice sent the forward moving back to Stamford Bridge because this chance might not come again.
“This is what I was telling Romelu, that it could be now or never, because probably he was not realising it 100 per cent at first,” said the Italian agent.
“I had to tell him to remember that sometimes there are trains and when they pass, they don’t come back. Because of the situation, because of the market and because there were not many possibilities, this was Romelu’s train.
“Chelsea were 100 per cent sure that he was the one, I never had doubts, but I think they needed to think twice before doing it. There were more offers before they got to the level Inter accepted.
“There were four offers and the fifth was the one that closed the talks. Looking back, I think everyone got a really good deal.”
In his first four appearances for Chelsea this season, Lukaku was able to bag four goals but have been silent in his subsequent six games for the Blues’ team so far.
Now, the Belgian is currently on the sidelines after succumbing to an injury in Chelsea’s Champions League victory against Malmo last week. He is expected to return to the Thomas Tuchel team after the international break, which means he could be returning in time to face Leicester City on November 30 and he will be missing the three games before that.