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Inter Milan signed Romelu Lukaku in the summer 2022 on loan for one season and decided against signing former free agent Paulo Dybala of Juventus, who later joined AS Roma. Looking at the results on the pitch, Inter Milan are better positioned in the Serie A table, but at the same time, Lukaku is struggling due to injuries, while Paulo Dybala is the star of the club coached by Jose Mourinho. The question is — did Inter Milan make the right choice?
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In the summer of 2022, Inter Milan had to decide which was the perfect striker for their attack. Considering that Simone Inzaghi’s side already had Lautaro Martinez, Edin Dzeko and Joaquin Correa, the club needed another player in that position. Juventus decided to not extend the contract of Dybala, who wanted to stay and had a deal in place, but later on the club decided to change some conditions of the deal and in the end the two parties decided to not continue together. Dybala became a free agent when the summer transfer window started, and Inter Milan had several meetings with his agents and the deal seemed to be done for many.
At the same time, things moved quickly on Lukaku’s side, with the former Inter Milan player forcing his way out of Chelsea, only one year after he left the Nerazzurri to join the English team. Lukaku convinced Todd Boehly and the whole club to leave on loan for one season, with a verbal agreement between the two clubs to sit down and talk again at the end of the current season for another loan or permanent transfer. Inter Milan basically had two players in their pockets, but due to their financial struggles couldn’t sign both of them for their salaries. Inzaghi and the board met to decide what to do and the outcome was that Lukaku was the player they needed. A proper number nine, that hopefully could repeat his tremendous performances that led the club to win the 2020-21 Scudetto.
Up to now, things didn’t quite work for Lukaku. The Belgian striker was forced to watch his teammates from the bench for most of the games due to some muscular injuries that started back in September. He only played twelve games in all competitions, scoring two goals so far. Inter Milan coped with his absence with Martinez and Dzeko, who delivered and scored some crucial goals. The Lautaro-Lukaku duo was basically never in action from the first games of the season until last Monday, when they played together in the 0-0 draw against Sampdoria.
On the other hand, Dybala is doing fantastic at AS Roma. The Argentinian player, who also won the 2022 World Cup with his national Ttam, is a key player for the club and scored eleven goals in 21 games so far. He’s an essential player for the club and also forced Mourinho to change the way they used to play in the past season, and that caused Nicolò Zaniolo to have no more space in the team and was recently sold to Galatasaray.
Twenty3
It’s always difficult to make comparisons about two different players, as Lukaku is a central striker and Dybala is an attacking midfielder that can play as a striker, a sort of old-school number ten. However, it’s quite reasonable to state that Inter Milan made a mistake to not sign Dybala, considering also that he could play with his national team teammate Lautaro. Dybala could definitely bring to Inter Milan what he’s bringing to AS Roma. His talent and his vision are what Inter Milan are missing this season. It’s also kind of ironic that one of the major doubts about Dybala was his physical condition, and this season he only had one small injury that forced him out for a month, while Lukaku, who never suffered big injuries, recently was out the whole first part of the season.
Strange enough, both Lukaku and Dybala’s futures are in doubt at their clubs. Inter Milan will soon start to speak with Chelsea about another loan but that will also depend on the English club. Theey will have to decide a lot of things in the coming months, starting from their coach. It’s too early to understand if they will be open again to sending Lukaku on loan for another season or if they want to sell him. If Chelsea want to sell Lukaku, we also have to consider that the club spent a world-record fee of €115 million in the summer 2021. At the same time, Inter Milan are expected to keep Inzaghi as coach of the club for next season, but in soccer never say never and results will define his future as well.
Dybala’s future is also a mystery and it might be linked with the future of Mourinho as well. There are increasing reports that the Portuguese coach might leave at the end of the current campaign and Mourinho himself spoke about his future to Sky Sportson Wednesday.
“Everybody keeps saying the club will meet with me in June. Do you really think the club want to wait that long? I think that’s a bit too late. I don’t expect anything, the club know what they can expect of me. Nobody works harder than I do,” he said. “Everyone knows by now that I could have left in January but we decided not to. If I made the decision, then that’s the end of the story.”
Mourinho could have become the new Portuguese national team manager but decided to stay at the club, but his future remains in doubt.
Dybala also spoke and said that he “would like to be coached by Mourinho,” but also stated, “with all due respect, the clause I have in the contract is strictly a matter between my attorneys and the club. I don’t know what will happen at the end of the season, I don’t even know what will happen with Mourinho.”
AS Roma are now only focused on the end of the season but it looks like it will be an interesting summer to follow for them.
At the end, Inter Milan opted to sign Lukaku instead of Dybala. Looking at them now, they made the wrong choice. However, the last three crucial months of the current season might change the perception we have and might also define their futures in a different way than currently expected.
