Chelsea play hardball over Lukaku, set to repeat mistakes from John Stones saga

According to Matt Hughes of The Times, Chelsea have presented Everton Football Club with an ultimatum of sorts:  sell us Romelu Lukaku now ... or ... or ... or ... or ELSE!  YEAH!  IN YOUR FACE!

Chelsea have told Everton that their next bid for Romelu Lukaku will be a take-it-or-leave-it offer and that they will not make another bid for the Belgium striker next year if the transfer is not completed this month.

-source: Times

I'm sure Everton are quaking in their boots.

As the Times go on to remind us, this is a similar strategy to what Chelsea employed last summer as we tried to wrest John Stones away from the Toffees.  Clearly, it's a highly successful and winning strategy, seeing as how John Stones has since revitalized the Chelsea back-line and has put in place a sensible succession plan for John Terry & Co.  Oh wait...

Chelsea are also supposedly maintaining that signing Lukaku for £67m of £70m or £75m (apparently the £8m difference is a difference worth issuing ultimatums over) does not mean that Diego Costa is on his way out, which sounds a bit far-fetched.  But if it is in fact the case, it sounds like a terrible waste of funds, considering we already have Costa, Batshuayi, Traoré, Hazard, Rémy, Abraham, etc. to play striker.

In any case, this situation is developing and at this point, literally anything could happen.  The betting houses are pushing this deal, the media are pushing the deal, and none of the parties involved are saying anything specific or substantial.  Hang on to your butts!