Inter striker Romelu Lukaku has claimed that he is yet to and will never forgive Andres Villas-Boas for the way he treated him whilst he was at Premier League club Chelsea.
“Villas-Boas took a lot away from me and I will never forgive him for that,” the Belgian national team striker remarked in an interview with Belgian news outlet Het Laatste Nieuws.
“Villas-Boas was under pressure but 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 manager.”
Despite being with Chelsea when they won the Champions League in the 2011/12 season, the former West Bromwich Albion striker went on to insist that he does not count it amongst his honours.
“Di Matteo told me that I would stay with the group until after the final. 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. I didn’t touch it with a finger because I didn’t win this trophy myself.
“This has been the case since I was eleven: if I have not contributed anything, it is not my trophy. Only if you have contributed to a cup or a title yourself, you can also show it off.”
Lukaku joined Inter this past Summer in a club record €65 million transfer deal from Manchester United and has been in sensational form in his first year representing the Nerazzurri club.
The 27-year-old striker, who has a contract with Inter until the end of the 2023/24 season, has made a total of 35 appearances across all competitions to date this term, in which he has scored 23 goals and provided five assists for his teammates.
