FC Inter tonight translated a piece from tomorrow morning’s Corriere dello Sport which quotes an Inter insider who claims that Chelsea wanted an “Lukaku for Barella” deal.
That was what Inter director Piero Ausilio, taking a trip to London for meetings with the Blues over various players each club is interested, had pitched to him by his Chelsea equivalents.
It doesn’t sound like it was a go-er. The only way that Inter owner Steven Zhang would be interested is if we were to buy Barella for £70m and then give them Lukaku on loan.
We’ve also heard talk of a Barella move to Newcastle for a similar sum in recent days. That sounds more likely, as much as we’d love to see the brilliant box to box star in our midfield. Sadly the Geordies can now offer just as much money as us – plus Champions League football and a project that really seems like it’s going somewhere.