It’s the off-season for all club competition, almost all of the international play currently being staged are just meaningless friendlies, so you know what that means? It is indeed the summer silly season, i.e. time to talk some transfer rumors, and other assorted news items.
So let’s jump with the latest buzz surrounding Chelsea FC. Today we have a double shot of transfer talk, so go here for part two.
A long time coming, but finally here- Romelu Lukaku has completed his season long loan move back to Inter Milan. The big Belgian returns to the side where he scored a lot of goals and won a Serie A title.
He leaves southwest London as one of the worst, if not the worst signing in Blues history.
Romelu Lukaku will spend the 2022/23 campaign with Inter Milan after completing a season-long loan. ??
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) June 29, 2022
Lukaku came back to Stamford Bridge last summer, on a club record transfer fee reaching almost 100 million GBP. Big Rom returned one decade after initially joining the club as a teenager, and he was a massive flop, both times, to say the least.
This past season, which saw him feuding with his bosses and openly pining to move back to Italy, Chelsea would end up paying him approximately $10 million per goal last year.
According to the official club announcement: “Combined with his first spell at Chelsea between 2011 and 2014, Lukaku has made a total of 59 appearances for the club, scoring 15 goals.”
Now, juxtapose that with his league title winning season at Inter, where he scored 24 goals in 36 league games (30 in 44 in all competitions). That’s a very drastic difference in Lukaku ROI right there. The financial information isn’t totally confirmed yet, but it’s been reported that the loan fee will be about 10% (or less) of what Chelsea paid last summer to bring him back.
Awful, yes indeed, but at least they’re getting his salary off the books and excising a locker room poison off the books. One forward out, another forward in. Here’s the latest on Chelsea’s pursuit of Leeds United’s promising young Brazilian.
According to the Guardian:
“First Barcelona were leading the race, then Arsenal were the rumoured frontrunners, but now Chelsea have agreed a fee with Leeds for Raphinha. The player may still opt to move to Barcelona, but Chelsea are favourites to clinch his signature.”
With Leeds already losing Kalvin Phillips this summer, they won’t part ways with Raphinha cheaply. And given how so many rich clubs are interested, they can really have a bidding war and drive up the price. While Chelsea are in pole position, it’s far from done at this point.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow paulmbanks
Leave a Reply