The Belgium striker spoke at the event marking 30 years of his agent Federico Pastorello's P&P Sport Management agency in Monaco, delivering his most public account yet of a season defined by injury, friction and a weeks-long falling out with his club.
"For us at Napoli it was very important to close the season in the top four, and in the end we finished second," he said. "We wanted to compete for the Scudetto — credit to Inter who were stronger. And I am happy for Roma in the Champions League too; their fans deserve it."
The remark was pointed. Juventus and AC Milan, both absent from next season's Champions League, were his implicit reference when he noted that "you can see from two big clubs that are not in the Champions League" what happens when concentration lapses at the end of a season.
The more significant part of his comments addressed what happened between himself and Conte in the final weeks of the campaign. Lukaku had returned to Belgium during the international break in March to continue his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury with a specialist physiotherapist, choosing not to return to Naples as required. Napoli fined him 20 per cent of his monthly salary. Conte told the media he was "disappointed" that Lukaku had visited the training ground but not knocked on his office door.
The relationship appeared beyond repair.
"I spoke with him before returning to Belgium," Lukaku said on Tuesday. "I apologised to him. He understood my situation. For me it was difficult not to be able to help the team physically. He also told me that he no longer saw me as before. He was honest. I will always thank him. It is him who created the player I am today."
He then said he hoped Conte might call on him again in the future — a form of public gratitude that acknowledged how much the Italian manager had shaped his second career.
On his Napoli future, Lukaku was unambiguous despite Pastorello's suggestion hours earlier that the club would not keep two strikers of his and Rasmus Hojlund's level.
"I still have a year of contract with Napoli and I am happy there," he said. "They gave me the opportunity to show that I was not dead. For this trust I will always thank the manager first, but also the club. I am happy to be a Napoli player."
He is in Belgium's World Cup squad and has not played for his country since a qualifier against Wales in June last year. The tournament represents his opportunity to reshape a season that never truly started on the pitch.