Ex-Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku reveals why he will 'never forgive' former boss Andre Villas-Boas

Rift: Romelu Lukaku says he hasn't forgiven Andre Villas-Boas for how he was used at Chelsea
AFP via Getty Images
Joe Krishnan21 May 2020

Romelu Lukaku insists has not forgiven former Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas for the way he was treated at Stamford Bridge.

After emerging as one of Europe's most exciting talents as a teenager at Anderlecht, Lukaku signed for the Blues in 2011

However, the Belgian striker struggled to break into the first team under Villas-Boas and was confined to the substitutes' bench for the majority of his first season in west London.

Lukaku failed to score in his 12 Premier League appearances for Chelsea before loan spells at West Brom and Everton, later joining the Toffees on a permanent basis. Villas-Boas was sacked in February 2012 after just eight months in charge.

Lukaku - now at Inter Milan after leaving Manchester United last summer - has reflected on Chelsea's Champions League triumph under Roberto Di Matteo in 2012 and says he cannot get over the way Villas-Boas exiled him from the first team.

In Pictures | Chelsea win the 2012 Champions League Final vs Bayern

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"Di Matteo told me that I would stay with the group until after the final," he told Het Laatste Nieuws.

"He thought everyone should come along, including the ones who were suspended and the few boys who were not in the Champions League squad. I am also grateful to him for that.

"This win is one of the things I’ve always dreamed about. You want to celebrate something like that with the team at that time. That is nice in itself at the age of 19.

"I am happy for the whole club, but there is one man who took a lot from me: the previous trainer (Villas-Boas). I will never forgive him for that.

"Once I had to play in the front left, another time in the front right. You don't develop that way. Then at some point you have to think about yourself. So I told the club what I thought of it. I know, Villas-Boas was also under pressure.

"But that’s why he didn’t have to treat me like that. Di Matteo approached me completely differently, he immediately involved me in everything. That should have been much earlier. Really, I never forgave the previous coach."

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