Inter Milan CEO Giueseppe Marotta has confirmed the Italian side’s stance over Romelu Lukaku amid reported interest from Chelsea.
The 28-year-old has been linked with a potential return to Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea reportedly continue their search for a new No.9.
A recent report from Tuttosport even claimed that Inter have had to set a €€120million (£102.7m) price tag on the striker, due to Chelsea’s “insistent” interest, in particular.
Inter chief Marotta has now even gone public, perhaps in an attempt to fend off any potential transfer raid.
“Can Lukaku be considered non-transferable? From our side, yes, absolutely,” he told Italian outlet Sportmediaset (via Calcionews24).
“Lukaku is an important element in this chessboard at Simone Inzaghi’s disposal.”
Chronicle view
The statement is hardly a surprise, since Inter would want to keep arguably their best player.
The Serie A champions have already lost Achraf Hakimi due to their financial issues and do not seem to need to sell another key player.
From Chelsea’s point of view, this could be problematic, of course.
It is a very similar case to Borussia Dortmund who are reluctant to sell Erling Haaland after losing Jadon Sancho to Manchester United.