Belgium international Romelu Lukaku has sealed another move to Italy after Chelsea and AS Roma agreed a loan deal for the season.
Lukaku’s time at Stamford Bridge is over but Chelsea are unwilling to budge on their asking price for the 2020/21 Serie A title winner. Inter Milan and Juventus were interested in the early stages of the 2023 summer window. They both failed to come to an agreement with the player and the club for a number of reasons and it looked like Lukaku was heading for a season in limbo.
Offers came from the Middle East but Lukaku, who is Belgium’s all-time leading goalscorer, was adamant about remaining in Europe. Now, José Mourinho, who was responsible for taking him to Manchester United, has given him another chance to redeem himself in Europe as an AS Roma player.
Mourinho lost his star striker, Tammy Abraham, to an ACL injury in the latter stages of the 2022/23 season. Thanks to the nature of the injury, Abraham is expected to be out until February 2024 at the earliest. Roma brought in Andrea Belotti from Torino but Mourinho is not confident enough in the Italian, who failed to register a goal in all competitions for the duration of the 2022/23 season.
Lukaku spent 2022/23 on loan at Inter Milan where he made the UEFA Champions League final and won the Coppa Italia. The 30-year-old striker also bagged double figures for Inter, despite being a backup striker to Lautaro Martinez and the veteran Edin Dzeko. Now, he is set to continue his Italian adventure at Roma.
It is understood that Roma will pay Chelsea a £5 million loan fee, while Lukaku will receive just over £6 million in wages. Lukaku had to agree to a massive pay cut in order for this deal to happen, as Chelsea were unwilling to pay any part of his wages while he was on loan and Roma were not willing to shoulder his full wages.
Meanwhile, Man United are close to striking a deal with Chelsea for the loan of Marc Cucurella. The Barcelona La Masia graduate is second fiddle to Ben Chilwell at Chelsea and United have lost Luke Shaw to a long-term injury, which leaves them short of a left-back.
Man United also approached Barcelona for Marcos Alonso but many in the club believe that the younger Cucurella will be a better investment.
Chelsea could still carry out some more transfer business this week.
