Goodbye Lukaku, Please Say Goodbye Suning!

I wasn’t too keen on the idea of Romelu Lukaku joining Inter after having seen him play for two seasons at Manchester United. He guarantees you goals but his overall play left a lot to be desired. I was favouring a move for Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata at that time. Credit to Antonio Conte, Antonio Pintus for working on him and proving me wrong. Credit to Giuseppe Marotta, Piero Ausilio and the Suning Group for enabling this transfer to take place.

Under Conte’s stewardship, Lukaku developed as a player. He improved his first touch and his hold up play. He was devastating when he ran with the ball as he was a beast; powerful physically and speedy. He was built like a National Football League (NFL) player. Lukaku formed a close rapport with the Inter fans all over the world from the first day and with his team-mates, he was a gentleman on and off the pitch. Thanks to his contributions, Inter won the Scudetto for the first time in 11 years last season.

Inter fans were not allowed to properly savour the title win as shortly after winning the Scudetto, Antonio Conte left the club by mutual consent amidst rumours that the club was in dire straits financially and had to cut costs. Then came the rumour that the club was looking to cash in on one of the team’s best players, Achraf Hakimi. It prompted a furious response from the Inter Ultras who met the club’s directors and were explained that the club needed the money from the sale to fund more signings to improve the squad. They were assured that this was the only sale of an important player from the squad. With a heavy heart, Inter fans had to see Hakimi’s career at Inter cut to just one, glorious season.

Then came the explosive news that Inter were considering a massive bid from Chelsea for Lukaku and the Belgian striker was open to the move. He had previously publicly said on more than one occasion that he had no intention to leave and was happy at Inter. He has not spoken out in public about this sale yet but I am very sure that he accepted it only because the club’s owners accepted the transfer bid. If your club accepts a transfer bid for you, a player has little choice but to accept it and move on which I can understand. I am thankful to Lukaku for what he contributed to Inter in 2 seasons but my fury and despair is aimed at the owners. But this sale has stirred up sentiments in all Inter fans with some strong displays of disapproval by the fans.

As a fan, I feel the most responsible thing the owners could have done was to sell the club as soon as the season was over as they were no longer in a position to finance the club and ensure that we remain at the level that we should be at.  It's an embarrassment to be content with winning one Scudetto after 11 years and then dismantle a relatively young squad with many years ahead of them only because the owners are struggling financially. That is just irresponsible and it is infuriating me. When they bought the club, they did a lot right. They appointed the right men for the various directorial, managerial and coaching jobs, signed the right players at a good age and got rid of troublemakers in the squad. They modelled themselves on the most successful club in Italy, our arch-enemies, Juventus.

All of that contributed to our Scudetto last season but Inter is a big club and should think like that always. A lot of clubs in Europe are struggling financially due to the pandemic which makes Inter’s situation normality but the way they have gone about business has raised alarm bells giving the impression that they are struggling more than most. That impression appears true which is why Suning Group should sell the club to someone who is in a healthier position than them to run the club. Thank you Lukaku and Suning Group but your time is up, Suning. Please leave with whatever good reputation you have left.