Chelsea and Inter Milan will continue to hold talks over the structure of a loan move for Romelu Lukaku in the coming days – and the Belgian forward is very confident he will complete a return to San Siro this summer, football.london understands.
Lukaku returned to Stamford Bridge in a deal worth £97.5million last August and was expected to spearhead a Premier League title bid under Thomas Tuchel. The 29-year-old made the ideal start with four goals in his opening four matches but Lukaku's form then dipped and he suffered an ankle injury against Malmo in the Champions League which kept him out for a month.
The Belgium international was eased slowly back into the side and struck goals against Aston Villa and Brighton over the Christmas period. Then came Lukaku's hugely controversial and unsanctioned interview with Sky Italia in which he claimed he was "not happy" with his situation at Chelsea and admitted he would like to return to Inter in the future.
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Lukaku was dropped from the Chelsea squad to face Liverpool as a result – and the striker's already strained relationship with Tuchel was further damaged. Lukaku did apologise publicly for his comments and was given an extended run in the team through January, but he failed to score.
The former Everton and Manchester United star did net important goals to help Chelsea in the Club World Cup yet then came his infamous seven-touch performance against Crystal Palace. From that moment on, Lukaku became a fringe figure, with Kai Havertz used as the Blues' No. nine.
It became clear during the final weeks of the 2021/22 campaign that Lukaku's future would need to be resolved this summer. And after the season wrapped, representatives of the Belgian sounded out whether Inter would be willing to try to re-sign Lukaku on loan. Once encouragement was given, the striker communicated his choice to Chelsea and new co-owner Todd Boehly.
Tuchel is understood to have given his approval to a departure for Lukaku and on Wednesday, official talks between Inter and the Blues were held. They have continued into this weekend and while no deal has yet to be agreed, football.london has been told Lukaku now expects to rejoin Inter before pre-season gets underway at the start of July.
Such is Lukaku's desire to leave Chelsea and return to San Siro this summer, he is understood to be willing to accept a significant salary reduction. Belgium's all-time leading scorer earns in excess of £300,000 a week at Stamford Bridge and still has four years remaining on his contract.
Lukaku is unlikely to be the only member of the Chelsea attack to depart this summer with the futures of Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic and Timo Werner uncertain after their lack of regular game time last term.
