"The journey not over yet"- Exit-linked 31-year-old Chelsea loanee still focused on big achievements as he reminisces career milestone
According to reports, Romelu Lukaku and Chelsea have a verbal agreement for the forgotten striker to be sold for £38 million. Lukaku had a successful loan stint at Roma, but Mauricio Pochettino has not included him in his plans for the upcoming campaign.
For the Italian team, the seasoned Belgian scored 21 goals in all competitions. Lukaku, however, is one of the most important misfit players for the team and is probably going to be sold in the summer as Chelsea tries to comply with Premier League profit and sustainability regulations.
In 2021, Chelsea re-signed Lukaku for a club record-breaking £97.5 million. The 31-year-old’s lone season at Stamford Bridge since the move has seen him score just eight goals in 26 games, indicating the move was a failure.
After that, he went on loan to Inter Milan and then to Roma. The former attacker for Manchester United was left out of Chelsea’s preseason roster as he pursued a move, citing Pochettino’s reluctance to reintegrate him into his youthful first-team lineup.
However, Lukaku could unintentionally prove to be crucial for Pochettino this summer. Journalist Ben Jacobs reports that Lukaku will go this summer for a verbally agreed-upon value of £38 million. This money might be used to bolster the Argentine team’s transfer budget. Jacobs said:
“Chelsea want €45m (£38m) for Romelu Lukaku. Their position hasn’t changed since last summer. Al-Hilal had a bid for this amount accepted, but Lukaku wanted to stay in Italy. There is no formal release clause, but there is a verbal agreement between Chelsea and Lukaku that he will be sold if someone tables a bid for this amount.”
“There remains interest from Saudi, but not from Al-Hilal anymore. The Napoli links could gather pace since their new sporting director Giovanni Manna was the driving force behind Lukaku’s proposed move to Juventus last summer.”
It would be Lukaku’s third Serie A team if he joined Napoli. Last summer, the Belgium international came close to joining Juventus, but the agreement with Chelsea fell through when La Vecchia Signora chose to maintain Dusan Vlahovic.
This season, Lukaku has had a great time at the Stadio Olimpico, scoring 21 goals in 47 appearances across all competitions. But after two years of extravagant spending under Todd Boehly, Chelsea is looking to dump the 31-year-old’s salary in order to free up cash, and Mauricio Pochettino sees no place for him in his plans.
But Lukaku has shown again that he has a lot to give Serie A, as seen by his rejection of a summer transfer to the Saudi Pro League, which indicates that he still wants to play at the highest level.
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