Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson can’t see a scenario where Chelsea will allow Romelu Lukaku to leave on loan this summer.
The Belgian international has been heavily linked with a temporary move back to Inter Milan, but Merson believes that the striker will be sold if they can get anything close to the fee they paid for the player last year:
“If Chelsea can get their £100 million or anywhere near that amount back for him [Lukaku] this summer, they’ll sell him. A loan would be of no use to anybody – it wouldn’t help Thomas Tuchel one bit.”
At the moment, it’s hard to see who would stump up the cash for Lukaku. Bayern Munich have been suggested as a potential destination, with the German club likely to be looking for a replacement for Robert Lewandowski.
However, that does seem a bit unrealistic, considering Bayern have only paid over €45m once for a player previously (that was Lucas Hernandez who remains their record buy at €80m).
All the signs do point towards Lukaku staying at Stamford Bridge at the moment, although things can change pretty quickly in football.
