Chelsea eyeing up club’s defensive duo after centre-back exits – ‘Hottest phase’ of talks next week

Chelsea have ‘opened up’ to the sale of Romelu Lukaku this summer but have demanded Alessandro Bastoni as part of the deal.

That’s according to La Repubblica, who say the Blues are keen to avoid a ‘capital loss’ on the Belgian should he depart.

The newspaper explains that, with Thomas Tuchel’s permission, Chelsea have ‘opened up’ to the idea of letting Lukaku go just a year after paying over €100m to sign him from Inter Milan.

His former club are keen to take him back, and if they can get a deal done before June 30^th, they would be able to advantage of tax benefits to make the move more palatable.

Chelsea don’t want to be forced into a big loss on their own books, so have opened to the idea of an ‘onerous loan’ or, in simpler terms, a loan with a big down payment and then future payment to make it permanent.

These figures are currently set at €20m and €70m for the redemption, but they are open to players being included as well.

They would like Denzel Dumfries, but he is deemed untransferable, while Lautaro Martinez is of no interest to them.

Defenders Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni are of interest, though, and it’s even stated that Chelsea ‘demand’ the latter be a part of negotiations.

Whether Inter would sanction that isn’t mentioned, but the talks between both clubs will enter their ‘hottest phase’ next week, with Lukaku only wanting a return to Inter at this point.