Chelsea are ready to sell Romelu Lukaku and hope that a good World Cup can boost his transfer value ahead of a permanent exit from Stamford Bridge next summer.
Lukaku is on loan at Inter Milan and is unlikely to have a future at Chelsea under new manager Graham Potter. Chelsea are set to make a huge loss on the £97.5million they paid for Lukaku in 2021 but want to offload the Belgium striker and are looking for buyers.
Lukaku has been struggling with a hamstring problem and Inter confirmed yesterday that he has suffered another injury setback, less than three weeks before the World Cup starts. Belgium are sweating on his fitness but Lukaku plans to be fit for Qatar and Chelsea hope a good showing at the tournament will increase his market value.
The 29-year-old joined Inter in a loan deal worth just £6.7m last summer and Chelsea have verbally agreed that the Serie A side can loan him again on the same terms next season. But their ultimate aim is to find new suitors as they look to recoup as much money as possible.
Lukaku is not keen on returning to Chelsea despite Potter replacing Thomas Tuchel, who he fell out with last season. Potter is so far yet to give the club a firm opinion on Lukaku's future but a return to Stamford Bridge seems unlikely.
Lukaku has started only three times for Inter this season and aggravated his hamstring issue after scoring on his return from the bench in the Champions League last week.
Speaking ahead of their clash with Bayern Munich, Inter boss Simone Inzaghi said: “It’s a slowdown that we didn’t want, he was giving us a lot in this period. Hopefully we can reuse him before the break.”
