Roma fans gave Romelu Lukaku rousing reception as Belgian renews Jose Mourinho partnership

Big ROM, buoyant Rome. Even for a footballer who has travelled so widely, been through various unveiling ceremonies – twice over at some of his past clubs – and commanded almost €340 million worth of combined transfer fees in his career, the reception given to Romelu Lukaku as he arrived in the capital of Italy struck him as exceptional.

There were thousands of fans at Ciampino airport ready to greet the Belgian’s flight from London, where Chelsea, who bought Lukaku for €113 million in 2021, have agreed a year-long loan with Roma. The Italian club’s owner, Dan Friedkin, a qualified pilot, had taken the aircraft’s controls during the journey.

Happily he made a steadier landing than some of the Roma supporters who had climbed on top of parked cars at Ciampino to get a better glimpse of the arriving superstar. Windscreens were broken as the fans descended from vehicle roofs.

More of this fervour will be concentrated into the Stadio Olimpico on Friday, when, ahead of kick-off of Roma’s Serie A fixture against AC Milan, Lukaku is officially presented to romanisti. “The welcome has made me really excited and motivated,” he said on arrival in the capital.

He will doubtless gesture towards the club badge, depicting the emblematic image of the supposed founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus and the she-wolf who, according to myth, helped nurture them. Romulus, Remus, Romelu: There are several ways in which Roma’s signing of Lukaku makes sense.

For the player it distances him, at least for the season-long term of the loan, from Chelsea, where his second spell – he was also a teenage recruit at Stamford Bridge 12 years ago – turned out to be an unhappy stay.

He lost the backing of Thomas Tuchel, the manager who oversaw his arrival,