‘Lukaku towards the goodbye’.
That’s what Gazzetta dello Sport’s front page has to say about the current situation involving the Belgian striker and Chelsea’s interest in bringing their former player back to Stamford Bridge.
Already turning down an offer of around €105m + Marcos Alonso, Inter have made it clear they only want cash for their star, and a price has been set.
Gazzetta explain the Serie A club ‘are demanding a shock proposal’, which is ‘they will not sell for less than €130m cash’.
Therefore, if the new attempt from the Blues ‘approaches that figure, the deal will be closed in a short time, perhaps even by the end of this week’.
The situation as it stands is such that the newspaper go as far as saying that Romelu Lukaku is currently ‘closer to Chelsea than to Inter’.
The Italians, who were so adamant they wouldn’t sell their man, are now wobbling a bit, because no one is willing to pay €80-90m for Lautaro Martinez, and none of Alexis Sánchez, Arturo Vidal and Ivan Perisić have been sold.
There is still a need for money despite the sale of Achraf Hakimi, but it does rest on Lukaku himself, who ‘hasn’t requested to leave’, but also ‘isn’t certain to reject Chelsea, who could represent a sort of closing of the circle’ for him.
In fact, they are the only squad, other than Real Madrid, ‘for whom he’d leave Inter’.
A sale at €130m, taking into account what has been paid to Manchester United, would see them make a profit of around €61m, which they would then use some or most to bring a replacement in.
That takes time, however, but if Chelsea do come forward with that amount, it really would be tough for them to say no.
