Lukaku is threatened with expulsion from the team because he did not come to training

Lukaku did not travel with the Belgian national team to the United States of America, missing the World Cup warm-up matches against the USA and Mexico national teams, in order to work on his physical preparation. Italian media reported that Lukaku refused to return to club training for rehabilitation.

“Napoli can confirm that Romelu Lukaku did not respond to today’s call to return to training. The club reserves the right to consider taking appropriate disciplinary measures, as well as to decide whether the player will continue to train with the team indefinitely,” Napoli’s statement said.

Lukaku, who scored 14 goals last season and led Napoli to the Serie A title, has endured a turbulent season plagued by fitness issues. He was sidelined for the first half of the season due to a hamstring injury, while since his return in January he managed to score one league goal in five appearances from the bench.

“It’s true that I haven’t been feeling well physically in the last few weeks and I went for an examination while I was in Belgium, and the examination showed inflammation and fluid on the hip flexor muscle next to the scar tissue,” said the 32-year-old attacker. defending the decision to stay in Belgium for treatment.

“Since it’s the second problem I’ve had since coming back at the beginning of November, I’ve decided to rehabilitate in Belgium so I can help when needed. I could never turn my back on Napoli. There’s nothing I’d rather do than play and win ​​with my team. But now I have to be sure that I am physically one hundred percent ready,” said Lukaku.

Napoli is third in Serie A with 62 points, seven points behind the leader Inter. In the next round, Napoli will host the runner-up Milan who has more points.