Chelsea and Napoli are holding talks about a permanent club to transfer of Romelu Lukaku, according to reports.
The 31-year-old re-joined Chelsea in the summer of 2021 for a then club-record fee of £97.5m, but quickly fell out of favor after a difficult first year back at Stamford Bridge.
Lukaku penned a five-year deal on his return to Chelsea, playing a key role in Inter's 2020/21 Serie A title win, with his high wages preventing him from leaving permanently despite his clear future. west London.
Inter took Lukaku on loan for the 2022/23 season and Roma did the same last season – a spell that saw him score 23 goals in 57 Serie A games – but Chelsea are unwilling to entertain another short-term exit.
Sky Sports reports that a long trip to Napoli, which would reunite Lukaku with his former manager Antonio Conte, is now firmly on the cards, with both sides discussing a permanent transfer structure.
The Belgian has already agreed personal terms with Napoli and wants to work with Conte again, having played the best football of his life under the Italian boss.
The deal could finally help the exit of Victor Osimhen from Napoli – a long-term target of Chelsea but also the focus of Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain.
Lukaku will need a significant pay cut for Napoli to pay for the deal, but is said to be willing to do whatever it takes to end his spell at Chelsea.
While Lukaku's Chelsea didn't work out as planned, he has enjoyed previous success as a Premier League striker. Successful loan spells at West Bromwich Albion and Everton saw Lukaku make a permanent move to the latter and he would become the Toffees' top scorer, scoring 25 league goals in his final season on Merseyside.
Manchester United coughed up £75m for Lukaku in the summer of 2017, where he continued to score goals despite failing to hit the same heights as he achieved at Everton. Two goal-laden years at Inter followed another big-money transfer, prompting Chelsea to part with £100m to re-sign the player they first recruited from Anderlecht in 2011.
Lukaku failed to get along with former head coach Thomas Tuchel and was never included in the Chelsea squad by any of his supporters.
READ THE LATEST CHELSEA NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND GOSSIP
Source link
