West Ham in ‘pole position to sign £97.5m flop with Chelsea in ‘race against time’ to sell Spurs target

Football365

·22 August 2023

West Ham in ‘pole position to sign £97.5m flop with Chelsea in ‘race against time’ to sell Spurs target

Romelu Lukaku is looking to leave Chelsea.

According to reports, West Ham United have joined Tottenham Hotspur in the race to sign Belgium international Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea.

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The striker returned to Chelsea in 2021 as the Premier League side paid around £97.5m to re-sign him from Serie A giants Inter Milan.

After he was heavily criticised during his time at Manchester United, he scored 64 goals in his first 95 appearances for Inter Milan but he spent just a single season back at Chelsea before he was sent back to the Italian outfit on loan.

Lukaku was expected to secure himself a permanent move back to Inter Milan this summer but talks with them broke down once they discovered that the forward was attempting to engineer himself a move to rivals Juventus.

Tottenham have been linked with Lukaku in recent days as they are attempting to replace Harry Kane but West Ham are also in the running for the 30-year-old.

Football Transfers are reporting that West Ham are ‘in pole position to land Chelsea flop Lukaku’. The report adds.

‘West Ham are in talks with Romelu Lukaku after being given encouragement by the player’s representatives, while FootballTransfers has learnt that the Hammers are in pole position to sign the striker despite interest from the Saudi Pro League. ‘The striker has proposals on the table from clubs in Saudi Arabia while we understand that Tottenham are also keen on bringing in Lukaku on loan, as previously revealed. ‘Chelsea are not expecting him to be at the club after deadline day, we understand. The former Manchester United striker has also been in talks with Juventus but Chelsea refused to swap Lukaku with Juventus star Dusan Vlahovic given that the Old Lady demanded a further an extra £48m on top of that.’

The Telegraph meanwhile are reporting that Chelsea are ‘in a race against time to offload Lukaku’.

They are a more reliable source than Football Transfers so they unsurprisingly do not mention West Ham in their report.

Instead, they reveal that Lukaku is ‘training with Chelsea’s Under-21s and has not even spoken to head coach Mauricio Pochettino’ after he ‘rejected a huge offer’ to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal. The report adds.

‘Chelsea are currently still refusing to allow the 30-year-old to leave the club on loan for a second successive summer which has severely cut down his options with just over a week of the transfer window left to run. ‘Interest in Lukaku is thin on the ground, with Juventus currently the only club actively keen on the Belgian but the club are refusing to sanction a deal unless they can get striker Dusan Vlahovic off the wage bill. ‘Chelsea have already rejected two proposals from Juventus to pay a fee for Vlahovic and send Lukaku in the opposite direction. The first proposal was for Juve to receive around £42 million and Lukaku for Vlahovic, while the second was £30 million plus Lukaku. ‘Sources have poured cold water on Chelsea’s supposed interest in Vlahovic, although that pessimism may be tested if Juventus reduce the fee for the Serb even further and a solution to his costly wages can be found. Vlahovic.’

West Ham United Romelu Lukaku