How Has Antonio Conte Transformed Romelu Lukaku’s Fortunes? | OneFootball

Romelu Lukaku has long had the potential to be one of the world’s best strikers. For years, he was on the brink of achieving that status.

Now, at Inter, the Belgian forward is beginning to become a feared attacking threat. Aside from his physicality, Antonio Conte has added more strings to Lukaku’s bow, and he’s now an incredibly well-rounded striker.

In the summer of 2019, both Conte and Lukaku moved to the Nerazzurri. Since then, the pair’s relationship has gone from strength to strength.

But how has the Italian got the best out of the former Chelsea striker? Well, let’s take a look at Lukaku’s evolution in Serie A.

Escaping The Premier League Has Resurrected The Belgian’s Career

There’s something of a misconception that Lukaku failed in the English Premier League. Although he didn’t fulfill his world-class potential, he spent eight years in England’s top-flight division, and he was a consistent goal threat.

According to the official Premier League website, the 27-year-old scored 113 goals in 252 appearances in the competition. As well as averaging 0.45 goals per game, the Belgian also assisted a further 35, giving him a total goal involvement of 148.

On paper, Lukaku enjoyed a fruitful spell in the Premier League. As such, suggestions of him underachieving may appear somewhat unfair.

However, in July 2017, Lukaku completed a £75 million switch to Manchester United from Everton. Although the Belgian scored 16 top-flight goals at Old Trafford in 2017-18 as the Red Devils achieved a second-place finish, the following season saw him score just 12 goals.

Things could have been very different for Lukaku in his post-Everton career in England. The 27-year-old could have linked up with Conte at Chelsea ahead of the 2017-18 season.

The Italian manager planned to move for Lukaku and Virgil van Dijk while at Stamford Bridge, although he was denied those transfers because of concerns over his playing style.

In hindsight, it’s not unfair to say that the Belgian made the wrong decision to move to Old Trafford in 2017, but the lure of Manchester United and Jose Mourinho is difficult for any player to turn down.

Antonio Conte’s No-Nonsense Approach Is Making The Difference

Despite a lackluster final season for the Red Devils, United sold Lukaku to the Black and Blues in August 2019 for £73 million. Looking back on his decision, the Belgium international striker labels the transfer as a “beautiful” decision to move to the San Siro.

While Inter has given the 27-year-old the environment to fulfill his potential, a lot of the credit must go to the four-time league-winning manager.

According to Transfermarkt, Lukaku scored 60 goals and assisted a further 14 in his first 85 appearances under Conte, his second-highest total under any manager concerning total goals.

For Roberto Martinez, the former Red Devils striker has 61 goals to his name in his first 126 matches. Of course, Lukaku lined up for Martinez at Everton and leads the line for the Spaniard’s Belgium team.

Due to his prolific form with the national side, Lukaku is priced at 10.00 in Betway betting to finish as the EURO 2020 top goalscorer in the summer competition, as of April 6th.

Because of the numbers that Lukaku has thus far registered in Serie A, Conte’s decision to break Inter’s record transfer fee for the 27-year-old has been vindicated.

In typical Conte fashion, the Italian manager uses a no-nonsense approach to get the best out of his leading striker. In one of the Belgian’s first matches for the Nerazzurri, Conte labeled his Champions League performance against Slavia Prague as “trash”.

Unlike some players, this pushed Lukaku to improve and seek to regain his manager’s faith.

Achieving Domestic Success

Together, Conte and Lukaku have taken the Nerazzurri back to the Serie A title. At the time of writing, Inter are fifteen points clear of Napoli in the Serie A, and the Belgian is behind only Cristiano Ronaldo in the goalscoring charts.

Few can argue that the pair haven’t transformed the 19-time league-winning side’s fortunes. Should they both stay at the San Siro, there’s no reason that Inter can’t dominate Serie A over the coming years.