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| Romelu Lukaku of Chelsea during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Leicester City at Stamford Bridge on May 19, 2022 in London, England. |
Inter Milan CEO
Alessandro Antonello has confirmed Romelu Lukaku wants to return to the Italian club this
summer and says he is hopeful of agreeing a deal with Chelsea.
Chelsea spent almost £100m to sign the Belgium striker from Inter last summer,
but Lukaku wants to return to the Serie A side after struggling at Stamford
Bridge.
Lukaku was being
tipped to challenge for the Golden Boot award heading into the 2021-22 season
but finished the campaign with just eight goals.
The
29-year-old admitted during the season that he felt he had unfinished business at
Inter Milan and was less than pleased with his role under Blues
boss Thomas Tuchel.
Recent reports say Tuchel and Chelsea’s new owners have agreed to offload
Lukaku but it remains to be seen whether Inter Milan can reach
an agreement with the Premier League.
Asked about
Lukaku’s future on Thursday, Inter Milan chief Antonello said: ‘Certainly there
is the great desire of the player to return, the economic-financial feasibility
must be verified and some technical problems must be solved.‘By June 30? We’ll
try to do it in the correct timeframe.’
Inter Milan are
also in talks to sign Argentina forward Paulo Dybala, who will be a free agent
once his Juventus contract expires at the end of the month.
Dybala, 28, has
scored 115 goals in 293 appearances for Juventus, helping the Italian giants
win five Serie A titles and reach the Champions League final in 2017.
Inter’s Antonello
added: ‘It is fundamental to combine competitiveness on the pitch and
economic-financial sustainability.‘This is the work
we are doing, all the choices the club will make on the market will always be
inspired by these words.‘We want to be
competitive on the pitch, but on the other hand we must also respect the stakes
that UEFA is drawing on Financial Fair Play in this transitional period towards
the new rules.‘Everything can be
done, but with great consideration for economic and financial sustainability.’
Meanwhile, former
Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has urged Chelsea to ‘get rid’ of Lukaku
following the Belgian’s struggles in west London.
‘It’s interesting
that they are going to put him out on loan and want a £20m loan fee because it
means they can keep him on their balance sheet and still demand money for him,’
he told talkSPORT.‘If he costs
£97.5m, the player is depreciating in value by £20m a year. So if Chelsea can
keep him on their balance sheet and put him out on loan and get £20m for him,
they are actually making a monetary transaction that makes financial sense.‘Of course if he
goes off to Inter Milan, where a lot of people say is a far easier league to
score goals in, they might find themselves in a situation where Inter have
cleared their decks, because don’t forget, the reason why Antonio Conte left is
because they didn’t have any dough and they wanted to be able to capitalise on
sales.‘In 18 months time
or a year’s time, Inter might then find themselves in a better position and
Chelsea might be able to punt Lukaku out for £70m or £80m, and they will
actually make money from a transaction.‘So from a
footballing point of view, if Tuchel doesn’t want him then it’s a no-brainer,
he’s got to go.‘From a financial
point of view this deal is a no-brainer. Ultimately they’re getting their money
back from Inter for what they paid for the player. All of these things make
sense if the player is not going to get his head on.’
Chelsea finished
third in the Premier League last season and begin the 2022-23 campaign on
August 6 with a trip to Goodison Park to face Everton.
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