In need to bolster their attack, Chelsea invested in excess of €100m on signing Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan last summer.
The striker’s second spell at Stamford Bridge started with three goals in his first three league ties. Since then, he has managed five goals from 25 matches and three of them came in the Blues’ last two matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leeds United.
Lukaku returned to Chelsea’s starting lineup in the last two league matches as Thomas Tuchel favoured others ahead of the Belgium international for close to three months.
The ex-Everton star’s agent, Federico Pastorello, believes the upcoming transfer window will see a lot of attackers changing clubs.
“The forwards will be the ones to move the market, it’s not just Haaland. Last year many clubs were looking for a number 9 and were unable to get him,” he told La Repubblica.
“It’s no secret: Barcelona, Atletico Madrid are looking for one, Real will take one. If he were to take Mbappé, PSG would also look for a forward.
“In Italy: Milan, given the age of their strikers, I think are looking for a centre forward. Inter will have to figure out what to do: they have two great forwards, but one is of a certain age, the other seems to be of interest to the market.
“Bayern can lose Lewandowski, Tottenham Kane. Then there are those like Chelsea have the striker, but the situation is very special.”
After the representative mentioned Chelsea, it was no surprise that La Repubblica quizzed Pastorello about his client, Romelu Lukaku, staying at Stamford Bridge.
“For the parameters of the transfer, no one could have expected such a situation. I do not discuss the technical choices, but it is obvious that there was a problem,” the agent said.
“The numbers, however, must be weighed: he is the team’s best scorer, with a low playing time compared to his teammates. The situation must be carefully evaluated, now they have to defend their place in the Champions League, they have the FA Cup final: Romelu is focused on this, we have not talked about anything else.”
Lukaku’s difficult situation at Chelsea has seen him linked to Inter, and Pastorello was also quizzed on this subject.
“So much noise about nothing. He has the club [Inter] in his heart and the fans, he has never hidden it, like his love for Anderlecht where he would like to end his career,” he explained.
“But we cannot speculate: Chelsea have defined the transfer [sale] of the club, we do not know the interlocutors, let alone if we can hypothesise talks with Inter or Milan. We must wait.”
