Football’s most explosive interviews

ROMELU Lukaku didn’t hold back in showing his dismay at Chelsea last week.

The Belgium centre forward, 28, gave an interview to Sky Sports in Italy claiming he was unhappy at Stamford Bridge and wanted a move back to previous employers, Inter Milan.

It left boss Thomas Tuchel fuming with the £98million signing, who plans to sit down with the star and thrash out his issues.

But Lukaku isn’t the first footballer to air his dirty laundry in public with an explosive chat to the media.

Here’s five more who didn’t toe the party line.

ROY KEANE

Towards the end of the now Sky Sports pundit’s career at Manchester United, Keano appeared fed up.

In an infamous MUTV interview, he laid into his team mates after a 4-1 thrashing against Middlesbrough.

While Roy slammed most of his contemporaries, he singled out Rio Ferdinand with some choice words after he was at fault for a Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink goal.

 

“I have seen that happen to Rio before. It is poor defending,” Keane said.

“Just because you are paid £120,000-a-week and play well for 20 minutes against Tottenham you think you are a superstar.”

United destroyed the footage, fined Keane £5,000 and would soon terminate his contract.

HARRY KANE

At the end of last season, Harry Kane delivered a bombshell to Gary Neville on the former United defender’s The Overlap YouTube series.

Incredibly, he broke the hearts of Spurs fans by revealing he wanted a new challenge.

“I don’t want to have come to the end of my career and have any regrets,” he said.

“So, I want to be the best that I can be. I’ve said before, I’d never say that I’d stay at Spurs for the rest of my career. I’d never say that I would leave Spurs.

 

“I’m not afraid to say that I want to be the best. I’m not afraid to say I want to try get on the level that Ronaldo and Messi got to. You know, that’s my ultimate goal. That’s my aim, to be winning trophies season in, season out.”

Last summer, there was a scramble for Kane’s signature as Man City tabled a bid in excess of £100m.

But Daniel Levy held firm and managed to keep hold of his man… for now.

LIONEL MESSI

Messi’s 21-year love affair with Barcelona came to a close last summer, and a new chapter at PSG began.

However, it could’ve started a season earlier when Messi delivered a statement of intent that he wished to have his contract terminated.

He wrote: “By means of the present, and in accordance with the provisions of clause 3.1. of the contract of November 25, 2017, I express to you my willingness to terminate my employment contract as a professional footballer with an effective date of August 30, 2020.”

The faxed document revealed that a clause in a contract he signed in 2017 would let him leave in 2020 without any “prior communication with the club”.

 

Former president Josep Maria Bartomeu refused Messi’s request and angrily demanded he take the club to court to get his wish.

 

Messi stayed for the final year of his contract, before departing for PSG with the club in a financial crisis and needing to release the Argentine anyway.

RAHEEM STERLING

To force a move to Manchester City from Liverpool, Sterling said what he had to say in an interview with the BBC.

He had earlier rejected what then-Reds manager Brendan Rodgers called “an incredible deal” to stay at Anfield, which upset fans.

“It’s never been about money,” Sterling declared.

“I talk about winning trophies throughout my career. That’s all I talk about.

“I don’t talk about how many cars I’m going to drive, how many houses I’ve got. I just purely want to be the best I can be.”

Rodgers then went after Sterling’s former agent, Aidy Ward.

“You are not a 20-year-old boy and you pick up the phone and ask to speak to the BBC. You don’t do it. Him in particular. But, of course, if he is asked to do that by other parties then that is what he’ll do,” Rodgers said.

But Ward stayed firm. “I don’t care about the PR of the club and the club situation,” he retorted.

“He is definitely not signing [a new contract]. He’s not signing for £700, £800, £900 thousand a week.”

PETER ODEMWINGIE

After West Brom rejected a £2million offer from QPR for Odemwingie, the striker blasted his club on Twitter.

 

He then decided to drive to London on his own accord on transfer deadline day to force a move.

“I think every football fan is interested to see if we can make the deal or not and I am optimistic about it,” the Nigerian told Sky Sports rather hilariously through his car window.

“It’s not one hundred percent but I hope West Brom will be happy with what they will get and of course, they are hoping to get a few players themselves. I just hope things will go well in the last few hours.”

Unfortunately for Odemwingie, they didn’t. The deal that was supposed to see Junior Hoilett move in the opposite direction collapsed.

He returned to the Hawthorns in shame, before he was frozen out of the squad and eventually sold to Cardiff. – Online.