According to the Evening Standard, Romelu Lukaku’s chances of finding a new club this summer are going down, potentially leaving him stuck at Chelsea.
The 30-year-old is currently with Chelsea’s Under-21s squad and has not had any communication with head coach Mauricio Pochettino.
While Pochettino was initially willing to work with Lukaku, the Belgian striker appears uninterested in revitalizing his career in west London. Chelsea are only considering a permanent transfer for Lukaku and has rejected all loan offers.
Lukaku, who was signed for £100 million from Inter Milan in 2021, remains the highest earner at Chelsea with a weekly wage of £325,000.
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Juventus are willing to pay £35 million for him, a deal Chelsea would accept, but it depends on the Italian giants securing £50 million for striker Dusan Vlahovic.
The Blues have declined the option to take Vlahovic as part of the exchange due to his high wages and injury concerns, leaving them reliant on another European club making a late move for Vlahovic to free up funds for Lukaku.
Al-Hilal withdrew from the race to sign Lukaku after signing Aleksandar Mitrovic for £46 million over the weekend. Advanced talks between the Belgian star and Inter collapsed in July when Juventus entered negotiations.
Inter felt betrayed, as Lukaku had spent the previous season on loan with them and had supposedly indicated his intent to join permanently this summer. Tottenham have been linked to Lukaku, but they have denied any interest.
Chelsea may soon need to lower their £35 million asking price for their striker or consider loan offers to offload him.
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Additionally, they are running out of available loan spots due to new rules limiting overseas senior loans to five, with only two slots remaining.
The Blues intends to use one of these slots for Deivid Washington, whom they signed from Santos for £16 million.
