Antonio Conte believes he has landed a bargain in Romelu Lukaku.
And the Inter Milan chief already believes the Belgian striker will only get better after his arrival from Manchester United.
Lukaku notched his first goal for the Nerazzurri as they opened up their Serie A campaign with a comfortable 4-0 win over Lecce on Monday night.
Lukaku, who joined for an initial £58million over the summer, played the full 90 minutes and impressed.
Speaking post-game, Conte declared: “Let’s not forget Lukaku cost €65million to be paid over five years, so when people talk about big money spent, it wasn’t even that much.
“Tonight, Lukaku showed why we tried so hard to sign him.”
(Image: Inter via Getty Images)
Conte had been desperate to replace Diego Costa with Lukaku while Chelsea manager, only for the Belgian to head to Old Trafford and the Blues to land Alvaro Morata instead.
But now Conte is banking on Lukaku to spearhead an assault on the Scudetto this term, as he seeks to break former club Juventus’ stranglehold on the Italian championship.
He insists that Lukaku will thrive in Italy and also claims Belgium’s all-time record goalscorer still hasn’t reached his peak – and wasn’t able to show his full potential at his former club.
(Image: Inter via Getty Images)
“Let’s not forget he is only 26, he’s got a potential we can work on a lot; I believe that despite the fact he arrived late, we tried to work and he made himself available with great effort,” Conte stated.
“Today already Romelu showed what kind of a player he is. And why the club insisted on getting this kind of player. But I am very happy, I knew him as a player, but from a human perspective, I didn’t know him. It was a pleasing discovery.
“He really integrated into the team with humility, he made himself available to the team-mates, and everybody loves him.
“He’s just 26, has margins for improvement, he’s got to work.
“He must take advantage even more of the skills he has, because in my opinion he’s got skills that he hasn’t shown yet, he hasn’t shown everything yet, in his football career.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Conte still hopes to add Alexis Sanchez to his attack, but there are questions whether Solskjaer will allow a move to go through, amid concerns over Anthony Martial
The French forward started the season in fine form, scoring twice in his opening two Premier League outings, since being reissued the No.9 shirt.
But Martial suffered a thigh injury during the weekend loss to Crystal Palace and limped out of Old Trafford on Saturday night.
Solskjaer played down concern over Martial after the encounter, stating: “Hopefully they won’t be too bad and maybe we can have them training during the week.”
But the Red Devils are sweating over scan results regarding Martial. They expect to discover the full extent of his problem later on Tuesday.
