The Chelsea striker left the San Siro last summer, returning to Chelsea in a deal worth £97.5million, with the expectation that he could be the difference in the title race. However, Lukaku has just five Premier League goals all season, finding himself in and out of Thomas Tuchel’s starting XI.
It’s a vastly different story to his final season with Inter, where under Antonio Conte he plundered 24 goals and 10 assists in 36 Serie A appearances, guiding the Nerazzurri to their first Scuedtto for 11 years. And despite the Belgian being pipped to the Golden Boot by Ronaldo in his final campaign in Italy, it's Lukaku who has been recognised as the Player of the Season by his fellow professionals.
Along with Lukaku being honoured as the best player, his former boss Conte scooped Best Coach, while Inter were understandably voted Best Club. Speaking after winning the award, the Chelsea striker praised his former team-mates, Conte and Ronaldo, for bringing him to what he described as a “different level”.
“The club [Inter] always backed us and so did the fans who I want to thank,” Lukaku told AIC via Football Italia. “Being ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo is something that doesn’t happen every day. To me, he is one of the best three players in football history. He also brought me to a different level because he does great things.
“I am really happy to be included in the Serie A top XI for last season. I want to thank all those who voted for me and the team that helped me a lot, the coach and his staff. It was the team’s achievement and it’s an honour to be in the top XI.”
Lukaku then explained how he had achieved a life-long ambition in playing in Italy’s top-flight: “It was my dream as a kid to play in Serie A and I did all I could to achieve it. I am satisfied to have done it. It’s an honour to have been named best player of the season.
“It’s something that I could not achieve without the help of the team. They helped me realise great things. We won together, improving a lot. Everyone developed and the coach was always close to us. This award gives me a lot of confidence for the future.”
Of course, it isn’t the first time Chelsea’s record signing has spoken in nostalgic terms about his time with Inter, admitting that his decision to leave them for the European champions, still ‘bothered’ him’.
"How I left Inter, how I communicated with the fans, this bothers me because it is not the right time now, but even when I left it was not the right time,” he said in an interview with Sky Sport Italia at the end of last year.
"Now I think it is right to speak because I have always said that I have Inter in my heart, I will return to play there, I really hope so. I am in love with Italy, this is rightly the time to talk and let people know what really happened without talking badly about people because I am not like that."