Romelu Lukaku’s future is still unknown at Chelsea, but manager Pochettino seems to have changed his mind.
After his return from Inter Milan, Romelu Lukaku trained at Chelsea’s Under-21s alongside the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Malang Sarr. He is expected to leave Stamford Bridge in the summer.
But with the latest developments, according to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, coach Mauricio Pochettino is now ready to talk to Lukaku about staying at Chelsea.
Initially, he had no plans to work with Lukaku, and the Belgian himself had little interest in continuing his career here, but now the stance has changed.
Lukaku played at Inter on loan last season but this return has not been so smooth. Initially, Juventus was willing to pay £ 35 million for Lukaku, but with the condition that it could be exchanged with Dusan Vlahovic, bringing the Serbian striker to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea accepted Juventus’ offer for Lukaku but refused to accept Vlahovic due to his high salary and many injuries. This made the Blues have to rely on another team to buy Vlahovic before Juventus made the move to recruit Lukaku.
Chelsea will only accept permanent offers, with all loan offers already being rejected outright. However, it is conceivable that the Blues are forced to lower their £35m valuation of the striker or accept a loan offer in order for Lukaku to leave. He joined Chelsea from Inter for £97.5 million in 2021, so Chelsea cannot sell for too low.
But the Blues also face the problem of running out of loans, as clubs are limited to only five players on loan. Chelsea have only two spots left, after letting David Datro Fofana, Kepa Arrizabalaga, and Hakim Ziyech leave. They are planning to borrow Deivid Washington from Santos for £ 17 million.
