Romelu Lukaku 'wanted to kill Jose Mourinho' with Chelsea flop heading for Roma reunion
Romelu Lukaku is set to leave Chelsea in order to play under Jose Mourinho at Roma
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Romelu Lukaku is poised to reunite with Jose Mourinho at Roma.
Chelsea have been looking for somebody to help them get the Belgium international off their books all summer long, with Inter Milan and Juventus previously showing interest.
With both clubs ultimately opting against signing Lukaku, however, the 30-year-old now looks set to move to the Stadio Olimpico instead.
The striker will move to Italy in a £8million loan move, with the forward leaving west London for the next 12 months.
Jose Mourinho loaned out Romelu Lukaku during their spell at Chelsea together
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It means it will be the third time Lukaku and Mourinho have worked together, after previous spells at Chelsea and Manchester United.
Originally, however, their relationship wasn't so positive.
Back in 2013, Mourinho returned to Chelsea after a dramatic spell at Real Madrid - where he'd ended Barcelona's dominance of La Liga.
The Blues were short on firepower at the time, especially with Fernando Torres failing to live up to expectations following his blockbuster move from Liverpool two years previously.
But while Mourinho would end up bringing back Didier Drogba and signing Samuel Eto'o, Lukaku was allowed to leave for Everton on loan.
The Belgian was far from happy with that decision, however. And, in 2019, he recalled telling Mourinho that he wanted to kill his 'a**e' because he felt he could have made an impact at Chelsea right away.
"I went to West Brom and I just killed it, I scored 17 goals at 19 years old, and then I came back and me and the coach Jose Mourinho, we were not on the same wavelength,’ he told the Lightharted Podcast at the time.
"I thought I deserved to play, he thought that I wasn’t ready yet, so me and him agreed that maybe it was better for me to go out again and I went again [to Everton], and I killed it again.’
When asked if he'd ever had a conversation with Mourinho about the decision, he added: "Yeah, when [I was at United], I remember we were in Moscow two years ago, we played CSKA, I told him, 'Yo man, I wanted to kill your a**e so bad' and we laughed about it.
"Me and Jose our relationship is… everybody has their own personal relationship with him, but me and him we bump heads.
"We bump heads, but I love him as a man. I think he loves me as a man, but we bump heads all the time.
"All the time. He might be picking on me, but then I’ll be picking on him. But he’s my guy, for sure, he’s my guy."
Mourinho opted to sign Lukaku for Manchester United back in 2017.
He moved for the striker after missing out on Antoine Griezmann, who stayed at Atletico Madrid instead of moving to Old Trafford.
Lukaku did well enough for United at first, scoring 27 goals from 51 appearances across all competitions.
The two men helped United finish second in the Premier League table during the 2017/2018 season.
However, Mourinho would lose his job in Manchester in December 2018 following a poor start to the season.
He was then replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But Lukaku was never to Solskjaer's liking and was sold to Inter Milan in the summer transfer window of 2019.
Now, the forward is set to return to Italy with a big point to prove.
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Romelu Lukaku is set to join Roma on loan until the end of the season
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Inter and Juventus didn't want him - so the 30-year-old will need to reward Mourinho's faith during their upcoming spell in Rome together.