Inter would find €120m ‘hard to turn down’ for Romelu Lukaku — reports

Inter Milan keep on rejecting our bids for Romelu Lukaku and keep on publicly insisting on not selling, but every player has a price, as the old and increasingly uncomfortable transfer market saying goes. In Lukaku’s case, that number is €120m (straight cash). If that number is familiar, that’s because it’s the same number as it’s been since the start of the summer — or in fact, since the spring when this Lukaku return idea first popped up.

Clearly, we’ve yet to conjure up that amount, though supposedly we’ve come close at around €100m. But according to Gianluca Di Marzio among several others, our next bid will actually get to the magic number, which Inter will thus find “really difficult” to reject.

Of course, even if Inter accept, we’d still have to convince Romelu himself. He’s declared his intentions to stay, but some reports claim his head may have been turned at least a little bit by Chelsea’s generous offer to double (!) his current €7.5m salary. Moreover, Inter’s financial situation could lead to further cost-cutting measures, which might not align with the 28-year-old’s ambitions. And as the Telegraph note, Chelsea are “one of the few” clubs who could tempt him away.

That number, 28, combined with the other number, 120, would make this a massive all-in bet on our former prospect. But if he produces to the levels seen in Italy (64 goals in 95 appearances), or even in the Premier League earlier (129 in 262 at Everton and Manchester United) for the next several years, it might also prove a winning bet. (Not as sure of a bet as Erling Haaland, but that trail has surely closed by now even among the most speculative observers.)