Lukaku plans to return to Anderlecht after World Cup 2026

Napoli's Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku, 31, Belgium's all-time leading scorer, plans to return after the 2026 World Cup to Anderlecht, the club where he started his career, according to ‘Het Nieuwsblad’ and ‘DH Les Sports’.

"It's not yet a promise set in stone, but it's in his mind," he said. Romelu Lukaku has hinted in his entourage that the ideal time to return to Anderlecht would be after the 2026 World Cup,’ Het Nieuwsblad reports on Thursday.

The newspaper insists that Anderlecht "have not been officially informed, but “Big Rom” has recently let it be known in his entourage that the summer of 2026 would be the ideal time."

Lukaku, who will then be 33, has never hidden his intentions to return to the club where he played between 2009 and 2011.

Since then, he has embarked on a professional journey to play for Chelsea, before moving on to West Bromwich Albion, Everton, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Inter Milan again, Roma and finally Napoli.

"That will happen (...) sooner than you think. And in the best possible way. Not when I'm a worn-out player," Lukaku, who had said in the past that he would finish his career at Anderlecht, the club of his “heart”, had declared in the past.

"I promised my son, I told him I would come back," he said recently in an interview with Italian newspaper “Corriere dello Sport”.