Lukaku £20m loan fee foils Inter return

Misfit striker may be forced to stay at Chelsea

INTER MILAN fear their chances of striking a deal for Romelu Lukaku are minimal due to the finances involved. Lukaku wants to rejoin Inter after a frustrating first campaign back at Stamford Bridge following his club-record £97.5million return last summer.

Inter want to bring the Belgian back but are concerned they will not be able to come up with the money needed to make a deal with Chelsea work.

Lukaku, 29, is willing to take a wage cut to help seal a move back to Serie A, but Inter cannot afford to re-sign him permanently and offer Chelsea enough of a return on their outlay.

New owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital completed their £4.25billion takeover of Chelsea last week.

Boehly has held a number of meetings with manager Thomas Tuchel in which they have discussed transfer strategies, and Chelsea are willing to let Lukaku leave on loan.

Inter accept their hopes of him returning on a free loan are a non-starter but have also baulked at the idea of paying a significant loan fee of around £20m.

Lukaku’s clear preference is to go back to Italy but, with a number of obstacles in the way, he faces the prospect of having to stay put and attempt to revive his career with the Blues next season.

He is willing to accept that fate if no club comes up with a package tempting enough for Chelsea to sanction his departure.

Lukaku began his second stint at the club with four goals in his first four appearances.

An ankle injury and a bout of Covid then restricted him to just two starts from mid-October to the end of 2021, but the goals had already begun to dry up before that. Lukaku was starting to be overlooked even when fit and he laid bare his frustrations with how things were panning out in an unsanctioned interview with Italian TV in December.

The striker spoke of his unhappiness under Tuchel and his desire to return to Inter, which did not go down well at Chelsea.

He enjoyed a run of games at the start of 2022 but spent most of the rest of the season as a substitute.

A late burst of goals earned Lukaku a start in the FA Cup final, but he was under par as Chelsea lost to Liverpool on penalties.

He ended the season as Chelsea’s top scorer wth 15 goals, but only eight of those came in the league.