9:15am: Blues finally made lucrative offer of £250k per week to convince player to Join Chelsea
Chelsea’s quest to sign a new striker is gaining momentum, and it seems former Blue Romelu Lukaku may make a sensational return to the club he signed up for as a teenager.
Although Inter president has come out to say outrightly that they are not interested in selling Lukaku to Chelsea this summer, the Telegraph claim the Italians are merely playing hardball and that they may be forced into selling Lukaku because of their dire financial situation.
Chelsea are also very keen on signing a new striker this summer, and with Dortmund seemingly stubborn over Erling Haaland, Lukaku might be Chelsea’s next option.
According to Sky Sports Italia, Inter had rejected a bid of £85m for Lukaku and the Serie A champions will be looking to accept nothing less than £100m.
However, football reporter Dean Jones has stated on the Terrace YouTube channel that Chelsea had presented Lukaku with a whopping wage deal.
According to Dean, Chelsea are willing to make Lukaku the second highest paid player at the club with a salary of £250k per week, which was more than his wages at Manchester United. Lukaku took a pay cut to join Inter Milan from Manchester United, and this new wage offer may just be enough to make the Belgian force a move.
He said: “When Chelsea first touched base with Lukaku on what they’d be offering, Man City were kind of in the conversation as well.
“They actually offered more money to Lukaku in terms of an initial financial payment, what his wages would be and so on.
“So, Chelsea weren’t really in that same ballpark.
“Since then, things have changed. Over the past couple of months, Chelsea have increased their offer.
“Chelsea are willing to now pay Romelu Lukaku, not just more than he’s on at Inter, but more than he was at Manchester United. “He took a pay cut to go to Inter Milan. At United, he was on about £200k-a-week.
“He’ll be getting more than that if he goes to Chelsea. Probably closer to £250k-a-week from what I’m told.”