Thomas Tuchel reportedly enraged Romelu Lukaku with cheeky comment about Antonio Conte

Romelu Lukaku’s return to Chelsea was an unmitigated disaster.

After the Belgian smashed it at Inter Milan, the west London club saw fit to splash close to £100 million to re-sign the striker last summer.

Lukaku was supposed to take the Premier League by storm and at the start of his return, that looked as if it would be the case.

But things quickly took a downwards turn. A loss of form, injuries and a ridiculous mid-season interview in which he basically professed his love for Inter saw him fall down the pecking order at Chelsea.

In the end, Lukaku finished the 2021/22 season with just 15 goals from 44 appearances, which is simply not good enough for a player of his ilk.

The former Manchester United man is returning to Inter on loan this summer and Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel will probably be glad to see the back of him in truth.

Lukaku just wasn’t suited to his playing style and that really was evident for all to see.

And it seems Tuchel didn’t exactly help matters with regards to Lukaku’s struggles at Stamford Bridge.

According to Nizaar Kinsella, Goal’s Chelsea correspondent, the Blues boss made a cheeky comment to the striker about his former manager Antonio Conte while the pair watched a Tottenham Hotspur game – and it apparently didn’t go down well at all.

Kinsella said on the Italian Football Podcast: “Somebody told me… Romelu Lukaku was chatting to Thomas Tuchel watching a Spurs Premier League match, and Tuchel said ‘there’s your daddy’ about Antonio Conte. It was just a joke, but it didn’t go down very well.”

.@NizaarKinsella: "Somebody told me… Romelu Lukaku was chatting to Thomas Tuchel watching a Spurs Premier League match, and Tuchel said 'there's your daddy' about Antonio Conte. It was just a joke, but it