Just because you want to simplify everything to binary 010101s, doesn't mean that everyone is like that.
There's nothing to hate about Lukaku.
There's also nothing to excite anyone about Lukaku and for all the self-absorption and the "look-at-me" attitude, there really isn't that much.
He hasn't produced any magical moments wearing the Inter shirts. Apart from several Milano Derby goals - but not actual winners or late game salvations- there's virtually nothing. Remarkably he has achieved the opposite. He's performed wonders against the club when it matters (Shakthar "Mastercard priceless" head block, Sevilla own goal, City miracle).
For someone who scored that much, it's rather alarming how "vanilla" his passage has been. Sure, we won the Scudetto as the favorites with possibly our highest budget of all time but during these 4 years that Lukaku has been on-and-off in our lives, I can remember:
- Sanchez winner vs Juventus
- Perisic 4-2 winner vs Juventus in the Coppa final
- Inter thumping Milan in the Supercoppa 3-0
- Inter beating Milan twice in the CL semis with Mkhitaryan, Dzeko and Lautaro scoring the goals, who have been amongst the most hated FIF players even
- Sensi scoring in the Coppa extra-time
- Ranocchia scoring in the Coppa with a bicycle kick
- De Vrij getting the 3-2 vs Milan in the 0-2 to 4-2 turnaround
- Gosens getting that 3rd in Barcelona
Lukaku's biggest moment with an Inter shirt tragically could be his fight with Zlatan
And from a scoring perspective, the one moment I think most would remember his celebration was scoring the 5-0 vs Shakhtar in the EL semi final where he was thrilled as a kid getting a Happy Meal for the first time...
Maybe you can add some late game penalty goals, like Roma or Juventus [Coppa], but they weren't really winning strikes.
Or the cringe moment he took his shirt and moved to the corner flag after that 4-2 win vs Milan. I guess that counts for some.
You could also blame Covid for the lack of passion towards Lukaku but I don't think others suffer from this. I guess when his best game came in a relatively empty Napoli stadium you could argue this, but still. Too vanilla to have any sort of feelings about him with the Inter shirt.
When we look back 10 years from now, we'll have to force it to find special highlights involving Lukaku with Inter. That's where I'm leading at.
Ronaldo goal vs Lazio. Special.
Milito goal vs Bayern. Special.
Milito goal vs Siena. Special.
Recoba goal vs Sampdoria. Special.
Maicon goal vs Juventus. Special.
Nainggolan goal vs Juventus. Special.
Vecino goal vs Lazio. Special.
Vecino goal vs Tottenham. Special.
Adriano header vs Milan. Special.
Icardi hatrick vs Milan. Special.
Sanchez winner vs Juventus. Special.
Eto'o goal vs Chelsea. Special.
Samuel goal vs Siena. Special.
Pandev goal vs Milan. Special.
Maybe Mourinho can make Lukaku special for Roma... who knows. But he's pretty much the only high profile striker we've had that doesn't have these iconic moments and he's had more than a fair share of sample.
This is what doesn't give Lukaku extra points for me. But hate? Come on, that's the weakest claim you can make because you don't want to understand why some things are said and they collide with the narrative you want to have in your head.