Milan, October 17, 2025 – In a bombshell revelation that’s reopened old wounds at Stamford Bridge, Federico Pastorello, the Italian super-agent who orchestrated Romelu Lukaku’s ill-fated £97.5 million homecoming to Chelsea in the summer of 2021, has confessed profound regret over the deal. Speaking to Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport ahead of Napoli’s Champions League clash with Chelsea next month, Pastorello pinpointed the “relationship with the coach” as the unforeseen poison pill that derailed the Belgian striker’s second spell at his boyhood club. “It was the right decision at the time,” Pastorello admitted, his voice tinged with hindsight’s bitterness. “Then there are the human variables; no one could have predicted Lukaku’s difficulties, perhaps not so much environmental ones, because he knew the club, but rather in his relationship with the coach.”
The admission, surfacing just as Chelsea prepare to face Nottingham Forest tomorrow under Enzo Maresca’s watchful eye – the Italian sidelined by a touchline ban – serves as a stark reminder of the Blues’ penchant for transfer torpedoes. Lukaku, the towering target man who terrorized Premier League defenses during his 2012-14 Chelsea stint (15 goals in 15 months, though mostly bench-warming), returned from Inter Milan as a Serie A champion and Golden Boot winner, promising fireworks. Instead, the reunion imploded spectacularly: a mere eight league starts, a hamstring injury after three games, and a seismic mid-season bombshell interview with Sky Italia in December 2021 where Lukaku confessed, “I’m not happy with many things… I want to play for Inter again.” The fallout? A loan back to Rome, a £30 million sale to Napoli two years later, and a legacy etched in Stamford Bridge regret.
Pastorello, who represented Lukaku until 2023 and now counts Marcus Alonso among his stable, didn’t shy from the mea culpa. “He came from an almost father-son relationship with (Antonio) Conte, and that difference in approach affected him in some way, along with the injury he suffered,” the agent elaborated. “If it hadn’t been for that, the story would have been different.” Conte, Lukaku’s Inter mentor, had molded him into a goal machine (47 strikes in 72 Serie A games), fostering a paternal bond built on trust and tactical clarity. Enter Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea’s pragmatic German tactician, whose high-octane pressing and fluid front line clashed with Lukaku’s hold-up play. Tuchel, fresh off a Champions League triumph, viewed the signing as a luxury striker in a system favoring Kai Havertz’s versatility. “Romelu’s style didn’t fit our intensity,” Tuchel later reflected in a 2023 Bild interview, a sentiment that festered into public sniping. By February 2022, Lukaku was exiled to the stands, his agent’s pleas falling on deaf ears.
The saga’s echoes reverberate in Chelsea’s current blueprint under Maresca, the 45-year-old Italian who demands seamless integration from his £1 billion squad. Pastorello’s words sting amid the Blues’ own teething pains: Cole Palmer’s groin absence until November, Reece James’ cautious return from a Liverpool tweak, and Levi Colwill’s ACL nightmare sidelining him for the season. Yet, stars like Estêvão Willian – the 18-year-old Brazilian whose stoppage-time Liverpool dagger evoked Neymar’s flair – and Marc Cucurella’s Salah-strangling heroics signal a brighter path. Maresca, touchline-bound but omnipresent via earpiece for Willy Caballero’s dugout debut, invoked unity pre-Forest: “Relationships are key – coach, player, agent. We build trust daily.” Forest, seventh and unbeaten at home in five, loom as a stern test, with Chris Wood’s six goals mirroring the physicality Tuchel craved but couldn’t harness in Lukaku.
For Lukaku, now 32 and thriving at Napoli (five goals in nine Serie A outings, a Champions League hat-trick brewing), the Chelsea chapter is ancient history – or so he claims. “I learned from it,” the Belgian told Belgian outlet Het Laatste Nieuws last week, ahead of Belgium’s Nations League. “Tuchel was tough, but fair. Hindsight’s 20/20.” Napoli’s upcoming Stamford Bridge visit – October 29 in the Champions League league phase – promises awkward optics, especially after Chelsea’s recent Bayern Munich humbling and Benfica scrape. Pastorello, ever the dealmaker, sees silver linings: “Romelu’s resale value soared; he’s a Napoli icon now.” Yet, the agent’s regret underscores a broader Chelsea cautionary tale: in Boehly’s billion-pound bazaar, human chemistry trumps pedigree. As one Sky Sports pundit quipped, “Lukaku wasn’t the wrong player – just the wrong fit.”
Pastorello’s candor isn’t isolated. Chelsea’s transfer ledger brims with misfires: Kepa Arrizabalaga’s £71 million flop, Timo Werner’s pace without punch, and even Enzo Fernández’s teething adaptation under Maresca. But successes – Moisés Caicedo’s midfield mastery, Alejandro Garnacho’s electric cameos – hint at evolution. As Maresca eyes a top-four lock, with Forest victory leveling Liverpool in third, the Italian’s mantra rings true: “Adapt or perish.” For agents like Pastorello, it’s a lesson etched in blue: vet the coach as rigorously as the contract. Lukaku’s ghost lingers, a reminder that in football’s family feuds, the heart – not the wallet – writes the real story.
