Despite a number of Chelsea players deciding to go to Saudi Arabia in order to put an end to their stagnation at Stamford Bridge, one player is standing firm.
That’s Romelu Lukaku, whose loan from last season at Inter Milan has now ended, and who is waiting for the two clubs to hopefully sort out another deal for him.
Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport cover the story on Monday, dedicating quite a lot of space in their print editions on the situation surrounding the Chelsea striker.
Starting with the former of the two, the pink newspaper explain that before anything gets done, the Serie A side still need to sell some players, with the two likeliest being André Onana and Marcelo Brozovic.
They need to do this quickly in order to meet what Chelsea are asking for the Belgian, which would ideally be a full sale rather than another loan.
The Blues have received offers for the striker that match those criteria, including one from the ‘very rich’ Al-Hilal, but they make it clear the player has never thought of ‘selling his soul to the Devil’ and has said no to the three-year, €40m/year contract.
This ‘stubborn resistance’ comes from his love for the Italian club, and while he knows Inter will likely not offer the €40m transfer fee up front that Chelsea want, he does expects them to ‘play their part’.
The loan offered will include an up front fee that will probably be up to €5m, but it is what comes after where negotiations will take place.
It will be a mandatory option to buy, but Inter do not want to spend ‘more than €30m, preferably payable over several years’.
Therefore, it will take ‘days of patience’ in what Gazzetta call a ‘delicate game of chess’ to get an agreement, while the player enjoys the final days of his holidays in Sardinia.
Corriere dello Sport have very similar information when it comes to the figures Inter will put forward, and make it clear the striker is ‘essential’ to Simone Inzaghi’s plans, and has become the number one ‘priority’ at the club, ‘ousting’ Davide Frattesi from the top spot.
Lukaku’s dream would therefore be for the two clubs to sort out his future quickly, so that he can be with the Serie A club ahead of them starting their pre-season on July 13th.
