Chelsea legend Roberto Di Matteo has branded former Inter striker Romelu Lukaku a “phenomenal professional” after summer of turmoil.

The former Lazio and Blues midfielder had nothing but praise for the Roma loanee when speaking to The Italian Football Podcast, at an event hosted by DAZN Bet.

Ex Chelsea coach Di Matteo commented on the summer of turmoil following the permanent transfer of Lukaku to Inter spectacularly fell apart.

Inter Milan CEO Beppe Marotta has since declared the chapter to be closed, however, Nerazzurri fans continue to feel betrayed by Lukaku.

Chelsea Legend Di Matteo: “Romelu Lukaku A Phenomenal Professional”

“A lot has been written about him and the choices he has made in his career,” Di Matteo told The Italian Football Podcast.

“Ultimately it is his own decision how he wants to conduct himself.

“My experience of working with him as a young professional at Chelsea, I was assistant to André Villas-Boas at the time. I did a lot of one on one working with him as he wanted to improve” Di Matteo continued.

“He was a phenomenal professional. His mum and his family were very important to him.

“He is a sensitive person and a family person – at least he was then, I don’t know now. And then you make choices in your life and you live by the consequences.

“I think he has had a very good career, He may have upset some people. But I think he is a fantastic striker, he guarantees a team goals, he has always scored goals,

Di Matteo added: “even when he went on loan as a young player he always scored goals. He has become a recognized world star striker. He has achieved a lot in his career.

“You could argue he could have achieved more, but there are a lot of players who could say that” Di Matteo added.

Di Matteo Predicts Serie A Title Race: “Inter Milan Very Good & Juventus Always Dangeorus”

The former Aston Villa and Schalke 04 coach also weighed in on the Serie A title race, believing one of Inter Milan or Juventus to win it.

“Inter look very very strong, very resilient, and very consistent,” Di Matteo began.

“Milan did very well to win the Scudetto a couple of years ago. Napoli were amazing last season. I’m not sure if they can reproduce such a historic season.

“And Juventus are always dangerous. So I am going to go for Juve or Inter [to win the Scudetto]” Di Matteo concluded.

Di Matteo – A Chelsea Legend On & Off The Pitch

Roberto Di Matteo signed for Chelsea in the summer 1996 from Lazio. During his five seasons at Stamford Bridge, Di Matteo featured 175 times across all competitions scoring 26 times in the process.

He was an integral part of the Chelsea squad that won six trophies.  This included the Cup Winners and FA Cup, winning the latter twice scoring in both domestic cup finals at Wembley.

In March 2012, Di Matteo was appointed caretaker manager of Chelsea, replacing André Villas-Boas.

Subsequently, in the following months he guided the Blues to an FA Cup and Champions League double. The latter was Chelsea´s first Champions League win ever.

Some eight months later he was controversially sacked by the club after a string of bad results.