Chelsea now a ‘prison’ player is trying to ‘escape from’ – Tuchel will speak to Boehly about situation

Now that the sale of Chelsea has gone through and Todd Boehly is the new owner, the Blues are free to navigate the transfer market once again.

Having already lost the likes of Antonio Rüdiger to Real Madrid, others are expected to leave, with Romelu Lukaku potentially being one of them.

Any deal involving the Belgian would be particularly tricky seeing as he was only bought from Inter for over £100m last summer, especially because the one club he wants to return to, the very same Inter, can’t afford to buy him back outright.

Therefore, something, such as a complicated loan, needs to be worked out, which is what Gazzetta dello Sport cover on Tuesday in their print edition.

Making numerous musical references in their article, the outlet explain that ‘a year ago, the Blues were like Nirvana for a centre-forward in vertical ascent, but they now look like a (golden) prison to escape from’.

That’s because ‘it’s well known that Big Rom’s dream is to return to Inter, and only Inter, but to turn this desire into reality, the road is very narrow and there are some important formal steps to follow’.

It’s explained this has all been designed by the Chelsea striker himself, helped by his new lawyer, Sébastien Ledure, with everything resting on a meeting with the Stamford Bridge side, who have changed owners.

Gazzetta make it clear, however, that ‘before that happens, there is another meeting scheduled to which Lukaku is not invited, but it will still be the elephant in the room’.

That is one between Thomas Tuchel and Todd Boehly, with the two set to speak ‘tomorrow, or at the latest Thursday’.

While the presentations between the two men have already taken place, this discussion will be different, as the German manager ‘will stick the knife in the meat and talk about the market’, with Lukaku’s situation described as the ‘most delicate’.

This is where Tuchel ‘will have to give the technical opinion on the future of the forward’, basically explaining that the Belgian ‘is not very compatible’ with the way he wants to play and keeping him around would help no one.

Once that’s done, Boehly would then be able to ‘personally verify the need for forceful action’, because ‘sending Rom elsewhere would guarantee Tuchel the possibility of reshaping his 2022-23 Chelsea according to his principles and without compromise’.

Therefore, a lot rests on this upcoming meeting, from which details will undoubtedly appear soon after it takes place, either Wednesday or Thursday.