By Oyinlola Awonuga (The New Diplomat’s Entertainment Fashion and Sports Desk)
Belgium and Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku says he will never forgive former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas for repeatedly snubbing him at the club.
Portuguese coach Villas-Boas brought Lukaku from Belgian giants Anderlecht in the summer of 2011.
But Lukaku played most of the season with the reserves and was left out of the Champions League squad.
Lukaku only made his full Premier League debut for Chelsea in May when Villas-Boas had been sacked and Roberto Di Matteo replaced him.
Under Di Matteo Chelsea went on to win the FA Cup and the Champions League
And Lukaku admitted he will always hold a grudge against Villas-Boas.
“Di Matteo told me that I would stay with the group until after the final,” Lukaku told Het Laatste Nieuws.
“He thought everyone should come along, including the ones who were suspended and the few boys who were not in the Champions League squad. I am also grateful to him for that.
“This win is one of the things I’ve always dreamed about. You want to celebrate something like that with the team at that time. That is nice in itself at the age of nineteen.
“I am happy for the whole club, but there is one man who took a lot from me: the previous trainer (Villas-Boas). I will never forgive him for that.”
Lukaku added: “Once I had to play in the front left, another time in the front right. You don’t develop that way.
Then at some point you have to think about yourself. So I told the club what I thought of it.
“I know, Villas-Boas was also under pressure but that’s why he didn’t have to treat me like that. Di Matteo approached me completely differently, he immediately involved me in everything.
“That should have been much earlier. Really, I never forgave the previous coach.”
Villas-Boas would last just nine months as Chelsea manager, while Lukaku left the London club in 2014 before eventually ending up at Premier League rivals Manchester United.
