Chelsea, AS Roma in talks over Romelu Lukaku loan fee, wage coverage — reports

Following the shock news that Romelu Lukaku has ditched Juventus and was now only best friends with AS Roma, officials from the Giallorossi have been reportedly in talks with their Chelsea counterparts this weekend to iron out the details of a potential move.

And it sounds like we’re not too far apart on the details after these initial discussions.

While up to this point in the transfer window, Chelsea had been adamant about considering only permanent transfers, we’re now okay with a loan and punting the rest of the problem to next summer. Having run out of options, it’s probably the best available solution.

Talks are now centering on the specifics, such as the loan fee (Chelsea want £8-10m, which is what Inter paid last year as well, Roma offering about half that, €5-6m) and the wage coverage (Chelsea obviously want 100 per cent; that would require Lukaku to drop his wages, which is something he also did last season for Inter). An option or an obligation to make the loan permanent does not appear to be on the table, but there appears to be general optimism that this deal can get done.

But we’ve been here before...