We’ve said all summer that the transfer market was going to start spicing up once the Euros were over, and that looks to be exactly what’s happening. Scouts and sporting directors have had their eyes on the tournament, and clubs couldn’t easily make sales until the competition was over.
Now that events in Germany have concluded, things can start to move faster. Once big teams start selling, the cash flows down the pyramid, the market becomes liquid and we finally get some movement.
One of Chelsea’s big challenges this summer is selling Romelu Lukaku. Once he’s gone, there will a huge chunk of money and wages freed up for us to improve. There’s been little to no action while he’s been off with Belgium, but things are now warming up.
Il Mattino di Napoli, the local paper to the Italian city, is reporting that a deal between Chelsea and Napoli is getting closer for the striker.
They say that the sides have “agreed on a three year deal”, with a €25-30m price mentioned. As they say, this is far below Lukaku’s release clause, but certainly within the realms of what we expect Chelsea to be able to accept.
Napoli and Romelu Lukaku have agreed on a three-year deal, with #Chelsea willing to let him go for €25-30 million, far below his release clause.
— Chels HQ (@Chels_HQ) July 15, 2024
Lukaku nightmare must end at some point
The catastrophe of signing Lukaku was partly just the €100m wasted up front, but also just in the way it’s dragged on for several years. Nobody has been willing to pay his enormous wages in full, nor his transfer fee, so it’s been an annual issue.
At this stage, we’re sure those kind of numbers will be enough to persuade the club to wash their hands of him, and the striker is likely to be keen to link up with newly appointed Antonio Conte, the coach under whom he had his best success in the past.
Wow this is greatful
As I’ve said before, the Russians ignored Conte’s pleas to bring in Lukaku when he was the manager and then (idiotically) overpaid for him for a manager (Tuchel) who didn’t even want him. Chelsea fans have over-romanticized the Russian reign at Stamford Bridge while largely ignoring the wreckage. This is Exhibit A, and the only thing that stings more than the loss we’re going to take on Lukaku’s sale is the knowledge that, of his 223 club goals, he—a player we owned when he was still a teenager—scored exactly 8 for us! Talk about lost opportunities. :/