Romelu Lukaku enters top three of 15 most expensive loan players in history

Romelu Lukaku’s return to Inter Milan makes the Chelsea flop the third-most expensive signing ever to be sent out on loan by short-changed clubs.

Here are the top 15 priciest players for whom their next move was a temporary one…

15) Tiemoue Bakayoko (£40m)
Most of us got Bakayoko wrong. When he signed for Chelsea from Monaco in summer 2017, just before Danny Drinkwater followed, it was widely expected that the all-action defensive midfielder would be a huge hit in the Premier League. And he made a decent start. But come October when N’Golo Kante picked up an injury, Bakayoko’s shortcomings were thrust into sharp focus.

The nadir came in February at Watford. Bakayoko was sent off for a couple of cautions inside 30 minutes and Antonio Conte’s side were beaten 4-1. The midfielder returned a month later against Leicester but received the half-time hook to escape another seemingly inevitable dismissal. Conte’s trust and patience were gone, and Bakayoko’s performances left Maurizio Sarri in no doubt what to do when he arrived.

Specifically, that was to ship Bakayoko off to AC Milan. After a ropey start, the midfielder offered some hope that he wasn’t a lost cause. Indeed, when he returned to Chelsea, Frank Lampard offered him a clean slate. But a couple of friendlies was all it took for Lampard to reach the same conclusion as Conte and Sarri, shipping him back to Monaco for the season.

They opted against making that move permanent, with the jet-setting Bakayoko now back at Milan via Napoli. He remains a Chelsea player.

14) Anthony Martial (£44.7m)
We think that’s the final bill after Martial’s move from Monaco to Manchester United in 2015. The Red Devils paid £36million up front with millions more potentially due in add-ons. The Telegraph reported that United owed Monaco another £8.7million after Martial scored his 25th Premier League goal but that is likely to have been the last increment.

The other add-ons were payable if Martial was nominated for the Ballon d’Or before the end of the 2018/19 season, and if he played 25 games for France in the same time-frame. He’s somehow got 30 caps up to now, but he failed to hit 25 in time for his former club to trouser another £8.7million. As for the Ballon d’Or stuff…

Whatever United paid, it was too much. After eventually giving up on the surly striker, Ralf Rangnick sanctioned a loan move to Sevilla. He stunk the place out there too and returns to Old Trafford this summer…