Internazionale made the daring decision during the summer transfer window to loan out Mauro Icardi.
Although the Argentine forward had fallen out of favour at San Siro, showing a participant with 111 goals in 188 Serie A games the exit door was insecure. As shown on countless occasions throughout history, failing to replace a goalscorer could end a year before a ball has even been kicked.
Lautaro Martínez, currently 1 year into his time in Italy, would shoulder the load together with Romelu Lukaku. The Belgium international had been on Conte’s radar and, after missing out on him as Chelsea supervisor, he eventually was able to join with him.
The 26-year-old is just one of those players who will not really be appreciated until he is retired.
Lukaku hit 15 or more in five of the seven Premier League seasons, scoring 25 in 37 games in his final campaign with Everton. Of the players on this list, just Harry Kane and Sergio Agüero continue to be active.
Had he remained in England, Lukaku would have been a shoo-in for its exclusive 200 club. However, to the surprise of many, Manchester United decided to part ways with their £75million signing two years after bringing him to Old Trafford. His inventory was low after a 12-goal revealing during an injury-hit 2018/19 campaign.
At the moment, Lukaku’s switch to Italy did not go under the radar but it was not treated as the announcement signing it was.
With only 15 games remaining, Inter are joint-top of Serie A. Their stirring comeback at the Derby della Madonnina proved Conte’s side had the jar for the battle. It is the first time since 2010 Inter happen to be in the summit thus far into a season.
Heading into the break 2-0 down, Conte’s staff were flat from the 53rd minute.
He was able to upstage Zlatan Ibrahimović.
There was nothing remarkable about his objective. His party, however, was special. Eliminating his jersey, he wrapped it around one of the corner flags and maintained San Siro as his own.
This mentality could be exactly what sees Inter claim their first Serie A title in over a decade. If they do, Lukaku will have played a substantial part.
In Inter’s previous game, a 2-0 win against Udinese, Lukaku scored twice — the sixth time he has done this year, to make it 20 goals in 29 appearances this year.
He is the fastest player in the club’s history to do that, claiming an honor previously owned by Ronaldo. The terrific Brazilian striker reached that milestone in 31 matches.
He is not single-handedly spearheading Inter’s attack on the Serie A title, but he is playing an essential role in it.
The former Everton forward murdered the derby off in September, scoring the second in a 2-0 win. Lukaku scored winners from Cagliari, Brescia, Bologna, and Napoli when discovering the equaliser against Parma.
The 26-year-old scored two of those four goals Inter had to conquer Sassuolo in one of the matches of the season, also.
In total, Lukaku has scored 35 percent of their goals Inter have handled in Serie A this year and just five of his team-mates have assisted more times than he has. For instance, his haul of 17 would represent 47 percent of Manchester United’s league goals this term.
The next few weeks will make or break the Nerazzurri’s season. Their next Serie A outing is against Lazio, the league’s surprise package and a group only 1 point off the top. Inter traveling to Turin fourteen days after facing Juventus in what might be the title decider. If Lukaku can influence both of those games on the way into the name, he will have surpassed Icardi in the space of one season.
He is already dominating Serie A, just because he did the Premier League. Still nowhere near his prime, Lukaku under Conte could be something truly special.
