Chelsea are holding out for £40m for wantaway striker Romelu Lukaku amid Inter and Juventus interest
As per Daily Mail, Chelsea are expecting £40 million for Romelu Lukaku after rejecting Inter Milan’s latest offer for the Belgian striker, as they don’t want to send him on another loan spell.
The 30-year-old has attracted interest from Inter rival Juventus, while Saudi giants Al-Hilal are also keen on signing him, but the former Everton star only wants Inter.
The Serie A club also met with Lukaku’s manager and offered £23 million, which was turned down by the West Londoners as they were looking to recoup half of what they spent on his signing.
However, Mauricio Pochettino wants the striker to be content while playing for Chelsea, as the former Manchester United forward is set to return on Wednesday for pre-season training.
The Blues lacked a proper goalscorer and saw Kai Havertz play as a false nine, failing to address the situation as he only scored seven goals last season in the Premier League.
However, the former Bayern Leverkusen player has joined Arsenal as Chelsea are set to trim down their bloated squad and are now looking to sell seven more players to accumulate more than £212 million in sales.
Pochettino has already begun his reign, as many Blues’ players have returned from their vacation to participate in training before flying to the USA for pre-season games.
Although we should be asking for more, £40 million is realistic given what he paid to sign him in 2021. He has also failed to set SW6 alight and had to be loaned out to the Serie A outfit last season. Inter Milan will need to move quickly, though, since other clubs are also interested in signing him.
As seen by the fact that they have previously signed elite players like Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, and N’Golo Kante, Saudi teams know how to entice players with lucrative contracts. Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly have also left us to join Middle Eastern teams.
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It seems that the best move for all parties would be for Lukaku to leave. But we must ensure that such factors don’t put us at a disadvantage in transfer negotiations. We must ensure that we entertain only the highest bidder and sell Lukaku for the fee that we desire. No compromises.