Romelu Lukaku transfer: Chelsea and Inter Milan just £10m apart on valuations with salary agreed

The Blues are closing in on a return for their former forward

(Getty Images)

There is now a difference of around £10m in the positions of Internazionale and Chelsea over Romelu Lukaku, with conversations ongoing.

The European champions have already made two verbal offers and set their position, with the English club understood to be ready to pay up to £120m. Sources connected to the situation say that it is Inter who have to make the decision, but they are now seen as close enough to do business.

All other aspects of the deal have been agreed, with Lukaku set to earn £250,000 a week from Chelsea. The Belgian is excited about a potential return to the club he has long had unfinished business with, but would be content to stay in Serie A.

Inter's situation is complicated by Lukaku's very status, and are aware there would be an outcry and commercial repercussions if they were to sell Serie A's biggest current star. At the same time, they do desperately need money due to the financial issues suffered by their Suning owners, which is why it is ultimately about accepting a politically agreeable offer.

The Italian club offloaded Achraf Hakimi to PSG earlier in the summer, while manager Antonio Conte left after winning the title last season, replaced by former Lazio boss Simone Inzaghi.

Tuchel was quizzed on the matter after his side drew 2-2 with Tottenham in a pre-season friendly on Wednesday, but did not give anything away.

“I will not talk about players who don’t play in my squad,” the German said. “He is a fantastic player but a player from Inter and with all due respect I will not talk about him. Not everybody but I can imagine a lot of players want to come and join [Chelsea] but we don’t comment on that.”

With Oliver Giroud leaving for AC Milan, Chelsea are lacking a target man style striker in their squad.

Tuchel added: “I think with the exit from Olivier Giroud from the type of players we could use a player used to playing with their back to goal, whose strength is to keep possession from long balls, so we can add this direct style of play to our portfolio.

“This is the characteristic of player that is not Tammy (Abraham), Timo (Werner) or Kai (Havertz) so this is a profile we don’t have in the squad and could be useful but not for any cost and not hectic or in panic.

“No matter what happens we will be competitive and have trust in our guys that we can still develop and that we have young players in the offensive part of the game who we demand that they need to improve. We are relaxed and very well aware of our situation at the same time.”