MEETING HIM WAS A STROKE OF LUK

Romelu: Conte has rekindled my love of scoring

ROMELU LUKAKU returns to London tomorrow in the form of his life thanks to finally playing for Antonio Conte – and quickly loving Italian football.

The former Chelsea, West Brom, Everton and Manchester United striker became Inter Milan’s most expensive signing when he joined them for £74million last August.

And Belgium’s record goalscorer rebuilt his form and reputation while taking Conte’s side to second place in Serie A then the Europa League final two months ago.

He scored 34 times in 51 competitive matches and has already netted three times in the first three league matches of this campaign.

Lukaku, 27, has given Conte the credit for his Italian renaissance. And England, their old home, could pay the price at Wembley tomorrow. He said: “For me, Conte is a mentor, a father, a person who understands me.

“And I understand him too and I am grateful to him for the support he has always shown me.

“The first time he called me was six years ago when he wanted to buy me. For me, playing for him is really the realisation of a dream.

“You see his teams and you understand that you can, as an individual and as a collective, learn a lot and improve a lot.

“I feel I have grown a lot thanks to him and his staff – but this is just the beginning.

“We have to improve and Conte is the coach to do it.”

The two ex-Chelsea men are now working together after Conte first tried to sign Lukaku for Juventus after the 2014 World Cup and then at Stamford Bridge in 2017.

Now Conte has built his Inter team around the forward and helped supply him with former Premier League stars such as Ashley Young, Alexis Sanchez and Christian Eriksen to confirm Inter as deadly serious Serie A contenders this season.

Conte robustly defends his striker despite criticism.

After his two goals at Napoli in January, he said: “I heard people say Lukaku was a donkey not that long ago.

“I always said Romelu was a rough diamond that needed work to smooth him out.

“I wanted him when I was at Chelsea, even back at Juve. Now I can get to work on polishing the diamond.”

Lukaku always got a rough time in English football.

Despite his impressive record in the Premier League – he averaged close to a goal every other game for three clubs – Lukaku was never properly appreciated.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did not want him at Old Trafford.

Now he is feeling the love and enjoying the good life in Italy. “I love Italy, it’s the best country I’ve ever been in,” said Lukaku. “Italians welcomed me with open arms.

“Italian football is much more tactical and has helped me improve.

“I study how a defender plays, how he positions himself or how he reacts in certain situations.

“After training I stay 15 to 20 minutes with the coaching staff so I am prepared for any situation.”

His Italian job did not start well when his own fans wrote him an open letter claiming monkey chants directed at him by Cagliari fans in his second match were not racist.

And despite being named Player of the Year in last season’s Europa League, his own goal in the final gave Sevilla the trophy.

Lukaku admits: “That was very difficult and I didn’t speak for four days – but only by suffering do you improve.”