One of the more drawn out sagas of the summer transfer window was the exit of Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea.
The striker was a persona non grata at Stamford Bridge, and while there was a point when a return to Inter Milan was on the cards, that collapsed when he had a chat with Juventus.
That particular deal then never went through, with the forward eventually landing on loan at AS Roma, leaving Chelsea for the season, with the timing of the deal crucial for the Serie A side, as revealed by their technical director, Tiago Pinto, relayed by TuttoMercatoWeb.
The Portuguese was speaking at the Social Football Summit, and revealed some of the details that led to the Italian club getting their hands on the Belgian.
He explained the deal to bring him in was similar to the ones struck for José Mourinho and Paulo Dybala, because timing was everything.
He said: “They are the three names that no one expected would arrive. The first thing is to show the ambition to the ownership, and then were were good in the timing of these three situation. They realised that the love they can find here, they won’t find anywhere else.
“In the case of Paulo and Romelu, if we had fought with the clubs that wanted them at the beginning of the market, we wouldn’t have made it. That’s why I say the timing was crucial. We closed two negotiations in five days.”
Since moving back to Italy, this time with AS Roma, Lukaku has once again found his shooting boots, bagging himself nine goals in 14 appearances in all competitions to date, and carrying that form into the international break, much to the delight of the Belgian media and fans.
