Newcastle United
Premier League • England
Newcastle to make audacious approach for one of world’s most expensive players who is seeking transfer
Newcastle have been tipped to make a bold move for Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku, who is currently on loan at Inter Milan.
Chelsea spent a club record £97.5million to re-sign Lukaku from Inter in August 2021. That came after he hit 30 goals in one season for the Italian side to help them lift the Serie A title.
Lukaku’s move to Stamford Bridge, 10 years after he first joined the Blues, made him one of the most expensive signings of all time.
According to Goal, he sits seventh on the list of most expensive transfers. He is narrowly behind Jack Grealish, who moved from Aston Villa to Manchester City in a £100m deal during the same transfer window.
Lukaku’s first season back at Chelsea did not go to plan. While he did manage 15 goals, only eight of these came in the Premier League.
The Belgian often went missing in big matches. And this led to him losing his starting spot to Kai Havertz, who isn’t even a true striker.
Lukaku made things worse by revealing his desire to go back to Inter during an interview with Sky Sports. He also questioned the tactics of then manager Thomas Tuchel and admitted he was ‘not happy’ with his situation at Chelsea.
In the aftermath of that bombshell interview, Tuchel dropped Lukaku for the huge Prem game against Liverpool on January 2.
Romelu Lukaku endured a disappointing Chelsea return
While Lukaku did manage to get back into the side, he opted to leave pretty much as soon as the transfer window opened this summer.
The attacker went back to Inter on a season-long loan deal. According to Sky Sports, the Nerazzurri paid Chelsea a £6.9m loan fee, while there is no obligation to buy.
Lukaku’s long-term future still needs to be resolved though as he does not want to stay at Chelsea for the long run. And this could see him join one of Chelsea’s English rivals. According to Newcastle World, who cite reports from Italy, Newcastle are considering an ambitious approach for Lukaku at the end of the season.
Newcastle chiefs apparently view Lukaku as having ‘the right profile’ to become a success at St James’ Park.
Although, the bid will only happen if Newcastle manage Champions League qualification this season. They currently sit in third place, ahead of big clubs such as Tottenham, Manchester United and Liverpool.
Inter will struggle to keep hold of striker
The report adds that Inter are keen to retain Lukaku’s services. But due to financial constraints, they will only be able to offer Chelsea another loan deal.
Newcastle do not have those same financial problems. As such, they can submit a big-money offer for the 104-cap international.
Even if Newcastle have the money to sign Lukaku, it is very hard to see this transfer going through.
After all, Newcastle already have Alexander Isak, Callum Wilson and Chris Wood as strikers in their squad. Lukaku is a similar age to Wilson and Wood, so there would be no point in him joining as a long-term replacement for either of them.
Newcastle will be looking to add more youthful strikers to their ranks, just like Isak.
Another factor to consider is Chelsea selling to Newcastle. The two clubs are now in competition for a top-four spot. Chelsea are currently nine points behind Newcastle – admittedly with a game in hand – and must pick up some wins to catch them up.
So it is unlikely Chelsea officials will want to strengthen Newcastle further by allowing their record signing in Lukaku to go there.
A more likely scenario is for Lukaku to go back on loan to Inter for another season. After that, hopefully, the Italians will have saved up enough money to complete a permanent deal.