Romelu Lukaku’s future at Chelsea is still very unclear, but one thing he’s very clear on is that he doesn’t want to play in Saudi Arabia.
Fabrizio Romano has just Tweeted an update from the striker’s camp that there are “no changes” to his plans to stay in Europe, despite the best efforts of Chelsea and of the interested Saudi clubs to try and change his mind.
Lukaku had a relatively successful season back on loan at Inter last time out, and clearly wants another crack at the Champions League. He’s not ready for the retirement home in the Middle East just yet.
A lot will depend on what interest comes in in the next few weeks. It’s going to be especially tough for Lukaku to resist crazy money if he has no realistic prospect of playing in Europe, and that may well be the case. Other clubs may struggle to pay his wages, while Chelsea just want to accept whichever offer has the largest transfer fee attached – likely to be the Saudi one.