With less than a week to go before the summer transfer window, Romelu Lukaku is still a Chelsea player. Under contract until June 2026, the Belgian striker is not present in the plans of his coach, Mauricio Pochettino. But while the latter seemed to be waiting for Big Rom for the summer preparation after his international break with the Red Devils, the Argentine coach finally no longer counts on the 30-year-old striker, demoted with the under-21s of the London formation. What create a real distance between the two men, who do not even speak to each other anymore, according to the English press. His departure from CFC is therefore more than just a rumour, and formations are ready to welcome the native of Antwerp to dislodge him from the English capital… Indeed, Inter Milan wanted to extend the stay of the international to 108 selections (75 goals), he who had already loaned to the Nerazzurri last season.
If his performance in the past financial year remains far from that which he posted between 2019 and 2021 – before returning to Chelsea for 113 million euros (the biggest transfer in the Premier League from era before Grealish, Enzo, Rice and Caicedo), Italian coach Simone Inzaghi was not against keeping him in his ranks to partner him with Lautaro Martinez. Nevertheless, the Belgian was discussing in parallel with Juventus, something that the Milanese sports management learned later, thus closing the door to him after this second betrayal. The player even cut ties with his former teammates, in particular attracting the wrath of his Argentinian teammate: “I was disappointed with Romelu, it’s the truth. I tried to call him, these last days of chaos, but he never answered me, like he did with my other teammates. After all these years and a lot of things together… I was disappointed.”
Juve and Roma still on the move, but…
The interior coach has, meanwhile, turned the page on Lukaku to trust his new offensive reinforcements (Thuram, Arnautovic, etc.). For the Belgian striker, other avenues are opening up to finally leave the Blues: in addition to negotiations with Juventus, which are still going on between the different parties, his name has also been offered to Real Madrid according to the Spanish press. A new possibility has opened up on the other side of the Alps: with the long injury of Tammy Abraham – operated on the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee – combined with the failure of the Gianluca Scamacca file – gone to Atalanta Bergamo, the AS Roma are targeting the 2018 World Cup semi-finalist with Rode Duivels. And the latest leads him to… AC Milan! The latter would discuss with the London board for the terms of his loan, in particular on the obligation or not of the associated purchase option.
Many leads for a return to Serie A, a championship he particularly appreciates, but no official move for the moment. A situation that has also intrigued The Gazzetta dello Sportwhich evokes the journey of his lawyer, Sebastien Ledure, “the lawyer who travels around Europe to sell Lukaku”. In its columns, the daily newspaper with pink pages explains that “The more the sand in the hourglass sags, the more the Belgian’s representative tries to knock on new doors, but so far no one is opening.” The watch therefore plays against the representatives of the former Everton striker, who still has a week to hope to find a way out in Europe, hoping that Chelsea will lower their financial demands. Otherwise, the Saudi Arabia option – where the transfer window ends on September 20 – could well return to his plans. To be continued…
