Romelu Lukaku has been communicating with a whole host of people at Inter Milan for months in the hope of sealing a return to end his dismal spell at Chelsea, according to reports.
The 29-year-old only left the Nerazzurri last summer to re-join his boyhood club to complete a dream club-record £97.5m switch to Stamford Bridge.
44 appearances and 15 goals later, his first campaign back in the English capital is finally over and so could his time at Chelsea.
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Following his unauthorised interview with Sky Italia in late 2021, Lukaku’s future has been under the spotlight despite head coach Thomas Tuchel insisting he can still be an important part of his team next season.
“Always I want him to be an important part of the squad. Right now he is a very important part of the squad next season,” Tuchel admitted last month.
“We signed a big player and he is still a big player. What needs to happen for him (to turn his fortunes around)? I don’t know, actually. He needs to happen. Everybody needs to happen. This is life as a footballer on this kind of level. Everybody does the very best, it is like for every other player. We do the very best to integrate him.
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"He needs to happen. We need to support him and trust what we do. There is not one thing we can provide or need to find to make this happen. It is about trust, commitment, the feeling for the game, bit of luck, game momentum. That’s it.”
But his future is now hanging in the balance with Lukaku ready to return to Inter and Chelsea are willing to let him go in a salary-sharing loan deal. However, he will have to take a pay cut and the Serie A club will need to pay a sizeable loan fee.
The lengths which Lukaku is prepared to go to in order to head back to Italy have now been revealed. Gianluca Di Marzio reports that he has been contacting the President, directors and former teammates to try to clinch a transfer.
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“Since last Christmas, Lukaku has been sending public and private messages to Inter, calling the directors and the coach, former teammates and the President, ready to leave a third of his salary in London, ready to do everything he can to make the impossible possible,” Di Marzio wrote in Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera.
It appears Chelsea are ready to let him go but will only do so on their own terms. If Inter meet their demands, a Lukaku departure is extremely likely this summer.
Featured Image Credit: Sportimage / AlamyTopics: Chelsea, Chelsea Transfer News & Rumours, Inter Milan, Romelu Lukaku