Belgium international, Romelu Lukaku, has revealed that he felt hurt to depart Chelsea FC in 2014 to join Everton.
He revealed how he felt about his exit from Chelsea in an interview Sky Sports Geoff Shreeves.
In the interview monitored by African Entertainment, Shreeves asked Lukaku if his first departure from Chelsea in July 2014 hurt him.
Lukaku replied in the affirmative, saying: “Yeah it did. I wrote a piece about last summer for the first time about what football can do sometimes on the metal side.”
Lukaku, who recently rejoined Chelsea from Inter Milan at a fee of £97.5 million says “That’s something that I had on the back of my shoulders for many years. It was a source of motivation at the time, but also asking myself questions like ‘what went wrong?’. I was living with that for many years and that’s why sometimes, I could come over as a bit aggressive in interviews, or very defensive.”
“At one point, I just decided it was better to go somewhere else and just see everything from a different point of view. When I went to Italy, it was the best thing I could’ve done at the time,” he added.
“There were questions. I knew I had the ability, but why not? It was always just not. When I think about my performances with Everton, missed penalties, or United games or whatever. Or when I was here [at Chelsea] and I’d get an opportunity and it wouldn’t go well – it was always just not. Maybe it was because I put too much [pressure],” he noted.
“When I went to Italy, it’s where, under the guidance of Antonio Conte, I learnt what it took to go and break that barrier. When we did win [the Serie A title] last year, you could se the emotions in my face.”
“For me, it was ten years of hard work, with a lot of ups and downs, but in the end, it was good. Coming into my prime years, I know myself and I know what it takes. I know how to be a leader and what it takes to help my team.”
“Technically, I have improved because before, back to goal was not really my thing, I didn’t like it, I didn’t enjoy it. I’m more of a guy that likes to run in behind, find tight spaces and take players on.”
“But as soon as I started getting better with my back-to-goal play, it was better for me because I could score more goals but I could also create more for my team-mates, so my assists went up and I became a more complete player.”
“Tactically, I see the game totally different. I’m really interested in the movements some players make. So for the last week, I’ve been watching the last seven or eight games of the team and try to know what the movements and what the coach is trying to expect from us in every game, so when I come in, I can just move.”
Lukaku is expected to play his first match of the current season for Chelsea on Sunday against Arsenal.
