‘No way’: Director can’t believe he managed to sign £37m player from Chelsea this summer

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Tiago Pinto – Director of Football at Roma – has now admitted his shock at managing to sign Romelu Lukaku on loan from Chelsea.

The 35-year-old made the comments when speaking to the media at a press conference earlier on Tuesday.

So, what did Tiago Pinto say about Romelu Lukaku? Let’s take a look…

What’s the story?

Well, the Portuguese negotiator felt that signing the Belgian on loan from Chelsea was “impossible” at one stage.

Pinto is quoted by Fabrizio Romano as saying: “Lukaku deal was impossible for us in June and July. No way.

“Mourinho has been crucial to make it happen, it took four to five days to convince Lukaku… then our owners Frienkdin entered talks with Chelsea and literally unlocked the negotiation.”

After a nervy summer in which Chelsea looked likely to be stuck with the 30-year-old, things actually worked out fairly well for the Blues.

Chelsea did well out of Lukaku deal

Lukaku rejected approaches from Saudi Arabia, and also caused talks with Inter Milan to collapse after speaking to Juventus – those at the San Siro were said to have felt betrayed.

However, Chelsea eventually managed to negotiate an £8m loan fee from Roma after offloading the Belgium international, according to the Guardian.

The Blues also found a way to convince Lukaku to take a massive 50% pay cut on his £325,000-a-week earnings for the remaining three years of his Chelsea contract, as detailed by Yahoo.

Roma will cover the Antwerp-born striker’s salary in full for the duration of his season-long loan spell.

Of course, Chelsea will still have to find a way to deal with the problematic Lukaku – who did not even speak to Mauricio Pochettino – next summer, but from a financial aspect, the Blues handled this situation well.

Ultimately, Chelsea will hope that Lukaku shines in the Eternal City – if he does, then Roma can sign him permanently for £37m, according to the Telegraph.