Revealed: The sacrifice Lukaku will have to make for Inter transfer
Robin Bairner
- 25 Apr 2022 18:41 BST
- 3 min read
Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku could quit the club less than a year after his return to Stamford Bridge from Inter for a club-record fee of €115 million.
Lukaku enjoyed a spectacular two-season spell with the Nerazzurri and has been hotly linked with a move back to Italy.
Indeed, the player openly admitted in an explosive interview over the festive period that he regrets leaving San Siro, having become a Serie A champion under the guidance of Antonio Conte.
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Inter, too, are missing the Belgium international star and would like him to return. While it is theoretically possible, it will take a tremendous sacrifice from Lukaku to move back to Milan.
The reason for this is quite obvious: Inter simply do not have the financial capacity of Chelsea and cannot afford the huge wage that Lukaku is on.
Certainly, the Italians have ruled out making a permanent transfer for the player. Instead, if he were to return, it would be via a loan deal. If this is agreed to, Inter will then have to discuss wages with the player.
Lukaku is presently one of the best paid players in the Premier League. It is reported that his take home wage is around €13-14m. Inter cannot afford even half of this. Indeed, they can only realistically pay him in the region of €6-6.5m after tax.
Of course, his wage could be topped up by Chelsea, but it is unlikely that they will want to pay too much towards a player who is not available to them.
Will Lukaku make this sacrifice?
Calciomercato reports that Lukaku is deadly serious when he says that he wants to return to Inter, though the prospect of his wage being slashed in half will not be an appealing one. If he really is as unhappy at Chelsea as it seemed when he spoke over the Christmas period, though, it is not an eventuality that should be ruled out.
