Looking at Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday, we’re quickly coming to the conclusion the Italian media are running out of things to say regarding Romelu Lukaku’s potential move from Manchester United to Inter.
Their front page tries to get everyone excited by claiming the Belgian striker and the Serie A side have finally reached an agreement, with the article inside spreading over two pages.
The details are published, as the forward will reportedly earn €6-6.5m/year should he move to Italy, which would put him behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain (and maybe Diego Godin) as one of the best paid footballers in the league.
As you might have guessed, since we’re being reminded for the 58th time, the transfer fee is the real issue, as Manchester United are asking for €80m, which Inter can’t pay.
Lukaku would ideally like to be wearing the blue and black striped shirt on July 20th when the Red Devils face the Italians in a preseason friendly, but nothing indicates that will be the case as of yet.
This would be really interesting news, truly, if we hadn’t already heard it all before.
When we said the Italian media are running out of things to say, that’s because the very same Gazzetta dello Sport, who just tried to sell the above story as exciting, reported on May 28th that Romelu Lukaku had agreed terms with Inter ‘weeks ago’.
That suggests this groundbreaking news actually happened sometime in early to mid-May.
Furthermore, Corriere dello Sport claimed on June 14th Inter and Lukaku had reached a ‘broad agreement’ regarding personal terms, once again suggesting Friday’s claims from Gazzetta aren’t exactly fresh information.
Today’s edition of Corriere has a similar story to Gazzetta, which is that the Belgian is in agreement with the Italians for a wage of €8m (not €6-6.5m), but that all he can really do is wait, like everybody else.
However, should it become necessary, the Belgium international is ‘prepared to put in the work’ to force his exit and join Inter.
Basically, we’re in the exact same spot we were towards the end of May, with the only thing changing is Lukaku coming out publicly to state he wouldn’t mind leaving Old Trafford.
That happened nine days ago.
We hate to say it, but it might be time for the Italian media to follow the wise words of a certain Ronan Keating (first performed by Keith Whitley): “You say it best…”
