Di Marzio claims Marina Granovskaia may not have sanctioned Chelsea star’s summer loan exit

Di Marzio: Former Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia would have blocked the departure of Romelu Lukaku

According to the Italian football expert Gianluca Di Marzio (h/t Football.London), former Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia would have blocked the departure of striker Romelu Lukaku back to Inter Milan this summer.

Lukaku, who was signed by Chelsea in the summer of 2021 from Inter for a whopping fee of £97.5m, loaned the Belgian international back to Nerazzurri for the current season. Di Marzio believes Granovskaia would not have allowed this deal to happen.

Much was expected from the former Everton marksman, who struggled to acclimatise to the playing style at Stamford Bridge. He did not help himself by doing a cryptic interview in December about his love for Inter.

As quoted by SOS Fanta, partner to La Gazzetta dello Sport, here’s what Di Marzio said (h/t Football.London):

“I don’t think Marina Granovskaia would have allowed his return to Inter. She would have kept him at Chelsea walking around Stamford Bridge, rather, or at Cobham.”

“She would not have loaned him out to Inter. Probably, the situation the club was going through favoured this market deal.”

Latest revelations on the Lukaku-Chelsea thing is that the Blues do not prefer the striker to come back next summer and be a part of the team again. They think he would not fit the profile of striker wanted by Graham Potter.

Lukaku himself is not interested in returning to Stamford Bridge, meaning there could be a permanent departure on the cards in the coming summer.

Inter did not accept the asking price of Chelsea and went for a cheaper option of €8m to sign the player on a season-long loan deal. They would pay €10m to get him back on loan for another season. Whether this is the route they would opt for remains to be seen.

In his quote above, Di Marzio did not put any reasoning behind his comments. Maybe, under the previous regime, Chelsea would have been a bit more patient with the player having spent bucket loads of money on him.

However, the past cannot be changed now. Lukaku’s time at Chelsea does seem to be over. With that, the question marks of whether he can do it for one of the elite clubs in the Premier League remains.

More Chelsea News:

• Graham Potter approves the appointment of Christoph Freund as the new Chelsea sporting director
• Francis Benali gives his verdict on the late Chelsea bid for Romeo Lavia
• Scott Sinclair is training with Chelsea to prepare for his next move

For us, it’s better to look at the future. Potter, of course, may hold a different opinion on Lukaku than Tuchel. Things, hence, would be more clearer with time.