Chelsea should bring Romelu Lukaku back into the fold next season according to Gabriel Agbonlahor, who reckons two of his Blues teammates would make all the difference to the Belgium international.
The Blues spent around £97m to re-sign Lukaku before the 2021/22 campaign but he scored just eight goals in the Premier League before being shipped back to Inter Milan on loan at the end of the season.
But things haven’t gone according to plan there either, with a hamstring injury restricting him to just 12 starts.
In his 18 league outings overall, he has grabbed just three goals and two assists.
Gazzetta dello Sport claim Lukaku will ‘return to Chelsea against his will’ this summer. The forward has cost ‘Inter more than 17 million euros this season’ and the Italian giants have ‘not received enough in return for that’.
Lukaku ‘would like to stay and he is unwilling to give up’ but it is suggested that a ‘fantastic run’ is needed until the summer to tempt Inter Milan into ‘renewing the lease’.
The report claims Chelsea ‘urgently need to sell players to balance the books’. They ‘hope to sell’ Lukaku unless ‘the new manager absolutely wants him there’.
It’s not clear who that manager may be, with Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique said to be the leading candidates, but Gabriel Agbonlahor has urged whoever’s in charge to give Lukaku another chance.
Agbonlahor told talkSPORT: “It’s just their finishing – it’s half-embarrassing when you watch them now. Chelsea just need a striker.
“To have [Hakim] Ziyech, [Christian] Pulisic and not put [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang in the Champions League squad, it doesn’t make sense to me.
“I’d bring Lukaku back. Ivan Toney is also great shout. They need someone who is going to score you goals, all types of goals, and who has played in the Premier League.
“It has to be a signing to tie in with Financial Fair Play as well. The amount of money they’ve already spent, they probably can’t go out and buy a £120million striker.
“Get the team playing to Lukaku’s strengths. When Lukaku was at Chelsea, [Ben] Chillwell and [Reece] James were injured and they weren’t getting the ball in the box for him. He wasn’t getting the service.”
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