Even with Chelsea struggling to score goals, Mauricio Pochettino has made it clear that he will not rely on Romelu Lukaku this season.
This has opened the door a little further for a deal with Juventus to be struck, but a lot will depend on the Blues, who have already spent a lot of money this summer.
The latest on the situation involving Chelsea, Dusan Vlahovic and the Belgium international is brought to us by Corriere dello Sport on Tuesday, and the short version is that the clock is ticking.
It’s recalled that with the Blues valuing their player at €40m and Juventus wanting €75m or so for the Serbian, the idea would be for a bid of €35m to be placed on top of Lukaku to please all parties.
That being said, Chelsea have never gone that high, with their last package coming to €60m (Lukaku + €20m), meaning they are currently €15m off.
It’s then explained the Premier League side subsequently chose to ‘not listen to the requests of a raise’ from Turin, which put everything on hold.
Juventus never gave up hope, however, as both their manager and director of sport are ‘still convinced’ that signing Lukaku would be the ‘icing on a cake that already seemed very tasty at the first bite’.
Sorting out personal terms with the Chelsea striker would be no issue, as they ‘reached an agreement’ for a three-year contract worth €9m/year two months ago.
For now, he ‘trains alone’ while Pochettino’s side ‘are still looking for a striker’, and they will have witnessed Vlahovic’s first half performance against Udinese where he picked up a goal and an assist.
However, ‘time is running out’, and an ‘important sprint’ from Chelsea will be needed ‘in the next few hours’ to ensure a transfer gets done.
Meanwhile, Juventus are working down their end to see if they can gather enough funds from sales from the likes of Weston McKennie, Moise Kean and Filip Kostic to buy the Belgian separately.
Still, the ideal would be that much discussed swap deal, as it would kill two birds with one stone.
