Romelu Lukaku has had a fine career and proven himself to be an excellent striker over the years. That said, he has struggled at some clubs and his time at Chelsea was fairly disastrous.
It was so poor in fact, there is a case to be made that only Southampton's comically bad move for Ali Dia can be viewed as a worse transfer in Premier League history.
Lukaku's early years at Chelsea were mostly spent out on loan, as he bagged goal after goal for West Brom and Everton. He left in 2014 but after setting Serie A alight with Inter Milan, the Blues were convinced to go back in for their former man and splashed a cool £97.5m on the Belgian striker.
However, having also flopped at Manchester United, more English top-flight struggles would be in store for the striker. After scoring just eight league goals in 2021/22, he returned to Inter Milan on loan after just one season.
He spent the following year with the Serie A giants before returning to Stamford Bridge. However, the club made it clear that he was not part of their plans going toward.
Lukaky names Chelsea stars forced to use 'youth locker room'
Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Speaking in March 2025 with Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Lukaku revealed that he and two other Chelsea stars – Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – were forced to use the 'youth locker room' as the club attempted to force the trio out of the exit door:
“I wasn’t alone at Chelsea, Aubameyang and Ziyech were also out of the project. They made us change in the youth locker room. It’s business, the club tells you it doesn’t want you anymore and often also where you’ll end up. If you want to leave, however, you can’t. Clubs have relationships with the press and make you end up in difficulty, they make you look like a person you’re not. One day I’d like to clarify these aspects to the younger players, explaining who works for them and who works against them .”
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What Happened to Lukaku, Ziyech and Aubameyang
Chelsea got rid of all three
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With the Blues not happy to keep Lukaku around, he was eventually shipped out on loan to Roma where he momentarily reunited with Jose Mourinho. He said of that time: "Jose is a winner, I had him twice." He added: "I will never speak badly of him, at Roma he didn't have a top team, but he went all the way."
Returning to Chelsea yet again after another loan, the Belgian finally exited the club permanently in 2024 as he joined Napoli, costing around €30m. Having scored nine goals and provided seven assists in 25 games, he could fire the club to an unexpected league title – with Antonio Conte's men just one point of leaders Inter Milan.
Ziyech was sold permanently back in 2023, spending 18 uninspiring months at Galatasaray, before moving to Qatar Stars League club Al-Duhail in January 2025. Aubameyang was also offloaded at the same time, heading to Marseille for a season before joining Saudi team Al-Qadsiah.
Stats via Transfermarkt - as of 07/03/25