Inter Milan plan to take advantage of Chelsea’s January spending spree by proposing a new loan deal for Romelu Lukaku at a lower price in the summer, according to Gianluca di Marzio.
Under the new ownership group, the Blues signed eight players in the January transfer window.
Except for Joao Felix, who may still end up staying permanently at Stamford Bridge, these players are expected to fight for first-team spots next season.
This, however, also means that Chelsea will be under more pressure to offload some of their players in the summer to reduce the size of their already bloated squad for financial and football reasons.
According to Di Marzio, Inter see this as an opportunity to negotiate a lower loan fee for Lukaku next season.
“Surely at the end of the season he returns to Chelsea since he was on loan [without an option to buy],” the Italian journalist told Chiamarsi Bomber when speaking about Lukaku.
“I believe Inter will propose a loan renewal for another year, but at a lower price than the €8million (£7.2m) of last summer, taking advantage of the fact that the Blues have bought so many players and therefore might be more favourable to lowering their demands.
“Clearly, if he does poorly between now and June and does not prove anything, Inter may well decide to stop targeting him.
“However, considering that Lukaku has done everything to come back, I don’t think the Nerazzurri will abandon him.”
This is not ideal of course, but Inter’s reported interest in extending Lukaku’s loan perhaps should arguably be considered a positive thing already.
The Belgium international has struggled with injuries this season, having made only eight appearances in the Serie A this season, with only one goal to his name this season.
It is very unlikely that Chelsea will be able to recoup the £97.5m they spent on the striker 18 months ago, so getting as much as possible from the remainder of the player’s contract seems to be the only viable option.
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