Romelu
Lukaku is flying to London to complete his £97.5m (€115m) transfer to
Chelsea from Inter Milan.
The 28-year-old underwent the first part of his medical in Milan after the
Italian champions agreed in principle a club-record deal to re-sign the
striker.
The paperwork is now with club lawyers, and once that is formalised, Lukaku
is expected to sign a five-year contract, worth £200,000 a week.
Inter have previously rejected two offers from Chelsea for the Belgium
international, the second of which was worth £85m (€100m) plus left-back
Marcos Alonso.
Lukaku left Chelsea in 2014 after making just 15 appearances there following
his arrival at Stamford Bridge from Anderlecht in 2011.
One of the most prolific strikers in Europe, Lukaku scored 87 goals in 166
games for Everton between 2014 and 2017 and found the net 42 times in 96
appearances during his two years at Manchester United before signing for
Inter in 2019.
He scored 24 goals in Serie A last season, helping Inter to their first
Scudetto in 11 years as the club put an end to Juventus' nine-year reign as
Italian top-flight champions.
Chelsea will be keen to conclude the deal before 11pm on Tuesday so the
player can be registered by UEFA to be considered for the Super Cup against
Villarreal on Wednesday.
When the deal is completed, it will make Lukaku the most expensive player in
history in terms of combined transfer fees, standing at a staggering £308.5m
- over £30m more than Neymar in second (£271.7m).
Tuchel: Lukaku the profile we're looking
for
Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel was reluctant to admit a deal for Lukaku
was close, but did stress the No 9 role is an area the club are looking to
strengthen after Olivier Giroud left the club to join AC Milan.
"We lost Olivier Giroud who played a crucial role in the club," Tuchel told
Sky Sports. "He was the kind of profile who likes to play with his back to
goal, who likes to hold up balls, who creates space for Werner, Havertz,
Pulisic; who is ready to fight physically with defenders.
"This is the kind of profile that we don't have in our squad right now and
that we are looking for. It's still not the moment to talk about names
because we have nobody signed yet and we will show all the respect to other
clubs.
"Romelu is one of the guys like Haaland at Dortmund, Lewandowski at Bayern,
Harry Kane at Tottenham, who is a real No 9 who loves to score and who has a
presence in the box. That is not a secret. The sentence [Tuchel describing
Lukaku as a 'fantastic player'] is easy to repeat for any coach in the
world.
"But [his] is the kind of profile we're looking for and if it is possible to
convince agents and clubs, we will do our best."
Tuchel also stressed the need to improve after "big signings" elsewhere in
the form of Jack Grealish to Manchester City and Jadon Sancho to Manchester
United.
"They are big signings and we are also trying to improve the squad; at the
same time we give all our energy to the guys that we have - it's our goal to
improve the group we have," Tuchel added.
The evolution of Lukaku explained
His Belgium national team coach Roberto Martinez was among those to suggest
there has been an evolution in Romelu Lukaku's game and one statistic
highlights it best. Nobody in Italy provided more assists from open play
than Lukaku did for Inter last season.
It is a statistic still viewed with scepticism by some and it is true that
Lukaku's tally of 11 included a number of straightforward square passes and
lay-offs. But other goals highlight the awareness, intelligence, vision and
touch that carried Inter to the title.
It is a level of performance that has persuaded Chelsea to bring him back to
Stamford Bridge one decade on from signing his first contract at the club.
Lukaku, 28, returns at the peak of his powers, never better prepared to make
a big impact on the Premier League.
Here, Sky Sports' Adam Bate looks at Lukaku's evolution at Inter Milan...
'Lukaku deal almost done'
Sky Sports News' Kaveh Solhekol on The Transfer Show:
"We are very close, this is almost done. Lukaku is having his medical in
Milan today, the first part of that is already over... As soon as the
medical is done, he will be coming to London. It could be today, tomorrow,
or the day after, but in reality, he is a Chelsea player.
"It is a fantastic move for him, 10 years after he signed for Chelsea. Last
time around, it didn't work out. He was supposed to be the new Didier
Drogba, he struggled and he was sold to Everton. But he's coming back a much
better player, a more complete player.
"He is exactly what Chelsea need - a No 9. Thomas Tuchel said to the Chelsea
board 'get me a No 9, I want Lukaku, Haaland, or Kane', and they've got
Lukaku. They've had to pay a premium to get him and he is 28 - how much
resale value is he going to have? I think he will still have some resale
value if he was to leave Chelsea.
"But if he reproduces the form he has shown in Italy in the last two
seasons, then Chelsea have got the answer to their problems because Lukaku
will score 20 or 30 goals every season.
"This is the textbook example of how to make a transfer happen. You have to
take your hats off to his advisors, his agents, because everything has been
done properly. It has been done privately and behind the scenes, there has
been no strikes and Lukaku has been very professional - he's always said the
right things and it's going to be a good deal for Inter Milan."
Inter fans protest against owners -
"Zhang, the time is over"
Inter must decrease their wage bill this summer and title-winning manager
Antonio Conte left the club in May amid concerns about plans to reduce his
budget.
Lukaku was not involved as Inter won 2-0 in a friendly away at Parma on
Sunday evening - a match that witnessed prolonged protests against the
club's Chinese owners over the planned sale and general cost-cutting
strategy.
President Steven Zhang was the target of most of the anger with banners at
the game saying "Zhang, the time is over" and "Zhang, if you want to save
Inter you have to leave".
Chelsea are eager to sign a world-class centre-forward during the transfer
window and Erling Haaland of Borussia Dortmund is another target the Blues
have been interested in.
Meanwhile, with Lukaku set to depart the San Siro, Inter Milan are in talks
to sign Roma forward Edin Dzeko and are offering the Bosnia and Herzegovina
international a two-year deal.
Inter want to sign two forwards to replace Lukaku and one of their other
targets is Atalanta's Colombia international Duvan Zapata.
If Atalanta sell Zapata, they will try to sign Tammy Abraham from Chelsea.
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