Chelsea are willing to sell Romelu Lukaku for a bargain price this summer as he plans a return to Italy, The Pitch Prospect has learned.
The Belgian striker spent the last two seasons on loan at Inter Milan and Roma, but is now willing to take a significant pay cut to join former coach Antonio Conte at his new club Napoli.
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This means Lukaku is likely to leave Chelsea for good this summer, three years after his expensive return to Stamford Bridge, which quickly turned into a nightmare deal for both club and player.
Chelsea paid £97.5m to re-sign their former striker from Inter Milan in the summer of 2021 after he led the Serie A club to their first league title in a decade under Conte.
Three years later, Chelsea are willing to take a big loss for the 31-year-old and accept a reduced offer of around £29 million.
Napoli are currently in talks with the Premier League side over the deal, with Lukaku keen to stay in Italy and reunite with former manager Conte.
Lukaku is likely to replace Victor Osimhen, who is set to sign for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer as a replacement for Kylian Mbappe after the latter joined Real Madrid on a free transfer.
Osimhem has led Napoli brilliantly over the last four seasons, scoring 31 goals to secure Napoli’s 2022/23 Serie A title.
While fans may not be keen on signing Lukaku as his successor, they seem to trust Conte enough to support the deal.
This is the view of Italian football expert Daniele Fisichella, who told The Pitch Prospect that Napoli fans are open to signing Lukaku as Conte is helping the club recover from a difficult last season in which the team finished only tenth in the table, a year after winning the league.
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“I think the Napoli fans have faith in Antonio Conte and believe he is the man who can take them to at least fourth place,” he said.
“And because Conte likes Lukaku so much and has had him at Inter for two seasons, I think the Napoli fans will just be happy to get a Belgian.
“Of course, Lukaku is six years older than Osimhen and he is not a young talent. He is not a star.
“Of course he is nearing the end of his career, but if you compare Lukaku’s numbers in Serie A with Osimhen’s, they are very similar. Lukaku has scored 70 goals in Serie A in four years, Osimhen just a few more. Last season Lukaku scored 21 goals for Roma, slightly less in the league than Osimhen.
“But he seems to fit perfectly with the style of play that Antonio Conte wants to play. In a 3-5-2, Lukaku will be able to hold his own. He can also give you the opportunity to play on the counterattack.
“And ultimately, for Antonio Conte, it’s about having a quick solution, something that works immediately.
“And we saw it in the way he managed Lukaku at Inter. This solution can obviously work. So, yes, it seems to be the most likely destination. Conte convinced Lukaku to reject other offers.
“AC Milan and the Saudi League have tried to contact him before. Some new Napoli players who know Lukaku well have also spoken to him.
“So we are actually just waiting for Osimhen to move to Paris and Lukaku to move to the third Italian club since 2019.”
Meanwhile, it seems that Osimhen’s departure to PSG has been delayed as the French club tried to negotiate a lower transfer fee, despite Napoli sticking to the striker’s high release clause.
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“The gap between Napoli’s request and PSG’s offer is not big. Napoli is asking for 130 million euros [£110m]what exactly Osimhen’s release clause is according to the new contract he signed just a year ago.
“PSG offers 100 million euros [£84m] plus extra, but that’s almost Italy’s worst kept secret. We all knew Osimhen was going to leave.
“Osimhen’s decision is to leave, so if PSG can meet Napoli’s request, he will join them, unless Al-Hali from Saudi Arabia comes back with a mega, mega offer.”
“But of course the player’s decision is much more important and he wants to stay in Europe.”