Lukaku gets a chance to make amends

Lukaku gets a chance to make amends

Romelu Lukaku has not had a consistent league season since helping Inter Milan to the Scudetto in 2021 and this week there has been a swirl of rumours about his future.

He is still on the books at Chelsea, but is back at Inter on loan this season.

Aston Villa and Real Madrid are among the clubs allegedly seeking to secure his services on a loan deal rather than buying him for next season, as concerns persist over his repeated injuries.

This coming week, however, the 29-year-old can forget about all that speculation for a moment as he joins up with the Belgian national side. He is their top scorer with 68 goals in 104 caps but went into the World Cup in Qatar last year under an injury cloud and only made two substitute appearances.

The last group game in Doha against Croatia saw several missed chances that ultimately cost them dearly as the highly ranked Belgians were eliminated and went home embarrassingly early.

Belgium have a new coach now as they start their Euro-2024 qualifiers with a tough test away in Sweden. Dominic Tedesco has already made it clear Lukaku, despite being out of form and out of shape, remains key to the Belgian cause.