Both Manchester City and Chelsea took a long while to get warmed up this summer transfer window, but once they did, wow! City broke their club, as well as the England, transfer fee record when they signed Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for £100m a few days ago.
Chelsea have now agreed in principle for their own club record deal worth, one worth £97.5m (€115m), for Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku. Up until the Grealish signing, this would have been the new record for the most money spent on a player acquisition by a British club.
Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea, confirmed and here we go! The agreement is set to be completed after further talks. €115m to Inter and no players included. Paperworks to be signed once details are fixed. ?? #CFC
Lukaku will sign a long-term contract for €12m + add ons. ?? #Chelsea pic.twitter.com/N47ksuRGpM
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 7, 2021
Journalist Fabrizio Romano has the details above, but the Romelu Lukaku agreement is currently being reported by multiple outlets.
According to Sky Sports, “The paperwork is now with club lawyers and once that is formalized, Lukaku will undergo a medical and sign a five-year contract.”
The previous Chelsea transfer fee record was £75.8m, what they paid just summer to Bayer Leverkusen for Kai Havertz. This was a move that Lukaku really wanted as Chelsea is a club that really has a special place in his heart.
Stamford Bridge, which he left in 2014, is the place where he first cut his teeth and broke into professional senior team football.
From here, other transfer dominoes should likely fall, with Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham likely next. Timo Werner could be on the move too. There are hopes that this will get finalized and completed in time so that Romelu Lukaku could suit up in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday.
For the 2021-22 Chelsea season preview go here.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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