Inter Milan REJECT Chelsea’s £88m plus Alonso offer to re-sign Lukaku
Lukaku #Lukaku
Chelsea have made a renewed approach to sign Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan.
The European champions offered around £88million plus Marcos Alonso but the proposal was rejected by Inter who insist Lukaku needs to stay.
Chelsea have turned back to the Belgian international as Borussia Dortmund are refusing to sell their prime target Erling Haaland.
Lukaku scored 24 goals last season to help guide Inter to the league title. He was sold by Chelsea to Everton in 2014 then turned down the chance to rejoin the Blues three years later when he opted for Manchester United.
The 28-year old is admired by Thomas Tuchel who wants a target man to lead his attack.
Since the Belgian arrived at the San Siro for £73m in 2019, he has scored an incredible 64 goals in 95 appearances across all competitions.
Inter entered the summer needed to sell players due to their precarious financial situation, as a result of the club being badly impacted by the pandemic.
The sale of Achraf Hakimi to Paris Saint-Germain for £51.3m has relieved some of that pressure and put the Serie A club in a better position in their bid to keep hold of the 28-year-old.
Lukaku is very happy and settled at Inter and ready to help the club in their aim of retaining the title.
‘I did get to relax, but I’ve also been training to stay fit and be able to start [the season] well,’ he told the club’s official media channel last week when asked about his summer break.
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‘We now have a few weeks to prepare as well as we can for the new campaign. We hope to do well and achieve even more than last year.
‘I’m thrilled to be back. We hope to continue down the path that we’ve started and to keep winning. All the players will work hard to make your dreams come true.’
Inter’s CEO Beppe Marotta also insisted Lukaku won’t be sold this summer, despite reported interest from Chelsea and Premier League rivals Manchester City.
‘From our side, we can yes absolutely, Lukaku is not for sale. Lukaku is an important piece on the chessboard available to Simone Inzaghi,’ Marotta told Sportmediaset.
Chelsea find themselves in a similar position with Dortmund striker Haaland.
The Bundesliga side do not want to lose their star player after already losing Jadon Sancho to Manchester United this summer.
Any pursuit for Haaland might be more realistic next summer, when his £68m release clause becomes active.
It leaves Chelsea in a difficult situation with the transfer window coming to a close on August 31.
Though Chelsea won the Champions League and finished inside the top four last season, they lacked a prolific goalscorer with £47.5m signing Timo Werner struggling in his first season with the club.
The Blues’ top scorer in the league last season was Jorginho with a total of seven ahead of three others played who netted six times.
Alonso who was offered as part of the Lukaku deal, has played more regularly since Tuchel replaced Lampard as manager but he is still behind Ben Chilwell in the pecking order.
Chelsea also remain in discussions with Sevilla over a deal for France centre back Jules Kounde.
