Lukaku lifts the lid on his nightmare Chelsea spell

Romelu Lukaku has opened up on his nightmare second spell at Chelsea and claimed the club tried to portray him as someone he was not.

Lukaku, 31, is enjoying an impressive season for Napoli, with the striker having scored nine goals for Antonio Conte's side as they battle for the Serie A title.

The Belgian moved to Naples last summer for £30million, three years after joining the Blues from Inter Milan for £98m.

However, his return to Stamford Bridge proved to be disastrous, as after a positive start, he fell out of favour, spending successive seasons on loan at Inter and Roma back in Italy.

Lukaku secured a permanent exit in August having been forced to train with Chelsea's bomb squad during pre-season, an experience that he had also undergone during the previous summer.

And the 30-year-old, who has also scored 85 goals in 120 caps for Belgium, opened up on that experience in 2023 and claimed he felt as if the club had attempted to harm his image.

'I wasn’t alone at Chelsea,' he told Italian paper Corriere dello Sport. '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.

'But if you want to leave, even for serious reasons, you don’t have the option. They drag it out until the last moment, they wear you down.

'Clubs have relationships with the media, and it doesn’t take much to put a player in a difficult position or create the wrong image.

'Believe me, I’ve seen things I never thought I would. One day, I’d like to explain all of this to younger players, who is really working for them and who is working against them.'

Lukaku  - who played just 44 times in his second stint for the Blues - also went onto speak about his time working under Antonio Conte at Inter and explained how the Italian helped to improve a feature of his game that he 'hated' doing during his time in England.

'Playing with my back to goal,' the striker said. 'Conte was very clear: "If you don’t improve this aspect, you can’t play with me." No alternatives.

'I have to thank him because what used to be my weakness turned into a strength.'

Lukaku went onto score 21 goals for Roma last season, before his second spell at Chelsea finally ended.

His departure came 10 years after he first exited Stamford Bridge having been poached by the Blues from Anderlecht when he was only 18.

Lukaku failed to score for Chelsea in his first stint but enjoyed fruitful loan spells at West Brom and Everton, with the striker subsequently joining the Toffees permanently.

He shone at Goodison Park, earning a £90m move to Man United but his two years at Old Trafford were accompanied by much criticism, including accusations that he was overweight.

But, the 30-year-old hit back at these claims and insisted he was misinterpreted by fans and pundits.

'In England they had the wrong idea,' Lukaku added. 'For them I was lazy, but I never reacted to the attacks. I am someone who does his job and then goes home.

'In Italy the opinion has been reversed, here I am a worker. Now I am better than when I was at Inter. There I was 101kg, here 99kg.'

During Lukaku's time at both Chelsea and United, he played under Jose Mourinho, before he again featured for the Portuguese coach at Roma last season.

There had often been speculation that the pair didn't see eye-to-eye, particularly as Mourinho sold Lukaku when at Chelsea, but the striker refuted this claim.

'Nothing happened between me and him,' he explained. 'Jose is a winner, I had him twice.

'I will never speak badly of him, at Roma he didn't have a top team, but he went all the way.'

Meanwhile, Lukaku is still just 31, but given he broke into the Anderlecht team aged 16, he is in the midst of his 15th full season as a professional.

However, Lukaku pledged to continue battling on and and revealed how he plans to end his career.

He added: 'I've never thought about leaving the national team.

'I won't become a coach after that, but I want to end my career at Anderlecht, my favorite team. I promised my son.'