Chelsea, Inter Milan reach agreement over Romelu Lukaku loan — reports

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku is heading back to Inter Milan for the season, with a deal agreed “in principle” between the teams over a one-year loan, without any further options, obligations, or obfuscations. The two teams have been negotiating for a couple weeks to make this happen, satisfying the 29-year-old’s desire to undo last summer’s move the other way.

Chelsea’s initial demands of a €20m loan fee were dropped quickly, and Inter certainly came out the winners in that regard, paying just €8m in the end, plus unspecified add-ons. (UPDATE: Hot Days Pedullà says those could be as high as €5m for winning the Scudetto.

It does sound like Inter will be covering all of Lukaku’s (reduced) wages and bonuses, so at least we got that going for us. There are no other players involved in the deal, which is only for the one upcoming season, so we’ll get to do this all over again in twelve months (and 24, and 36, and 48).

According to The Athletic, Lukaku is expected to undergo a medical only next week, with the deal becoming official afterwards. So we might have to stay patient in waiting for that official announcement, but in the meantime, we can hopefully get to work on the rest of the summer’s action items.