Chelsea to release Lukaku at a bargain price
Chelsea have told the Belgian player’s agent that they are not contemplating any more loan deals for the striker. They would accept a transfer at a price of €40M. AC Milan lead the race.
Romelu Lukaku’s current situation is complicated. Marcus Thuram’s imminent move to Inter Milan will basically dash his hopes of returning to Italy. Chelsea have confirmed to the player’s lawyer, Sebastián Ledure, that they are not contemplating another loan for Lukaku (he spent last season on loan at the Guiseppe Meazza) and that ideally, they will seek a permanent transfer. The Blues hopes to raise some cash with from selling the striker.
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However, the pool of options open to Lukaku is shrinking. With an offer from Saudi Arabia on the table, but ruled out by Lukaku, AC Milan have been linked to the player in recent hours, as the Gazzetta dello Sport points out. Milan plan to use some of the money gained from the sale of Sandro Tonali to Newcastle (around €70 million) to sign a new striker. And Lukaku would fits into that operation. In addition, relations with Chelsea have always been good at San Siro. Tomori, Bakayoko and Giroud landed in Milan via London. So purchasing Lukaku would not be an unreasonable move for Milan.
Chelsea are willing to close any deal with offers approaching €40M. An almost testimonial price for the sale of a footballer like Lukaku, but Todd Boehly’s men don’t want any more loans with the Belgian and they do want a transfer. Their plans to fill the No.9 position are focused on Osimhen (Napoli) or Vlahovic (Juventus). Lukaku, at a knockdown bargain price when two years ago they paid €113 million to bring him back to Stamford Bridge. Today, Chelsea would be happy to recover a third of that.