Manchester United ready for a 50 million offer for the goalkeeper. With Chelsea, on the other hand, the Nerazzurri are aiming for a loan with an obligation to buy
What happens when you really want something? You find a way to reach it, to get it, even at the cost of going down roads you hadn’t planned on: you accelerate, then brake, then reason. Well, Inter are thinking. He is trying to figure out how to choose Romelu Lukaku forever. And the “forever”, specifically, is dictated by Chelsea, who have already communicated to the Nerazzurri managers that they do not want to negotiate again on the loan basis. Lukaku must be bought, taken outright. And the deal must be financed in some way, perhaps by playing on a change of strategy that took place – not by choice, to tell the truth, but due to Vicar’s flight towards Tottenham – on the goalkeeper.
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We already told in yesterday’s Gazzetta how Inter now no longer excludes presenting an offer to buy Lukaku. How to do it? Taking advantage of the probable collection of the transfer of Onana to Manchester United. These are hot days for this negotiation: it is the week in which the Nerazzurri expect the real offer from the English club, 50 million euros excluding bonuses, before which the deal will close. The road has been taken for a few days now, we are at the final rush, all the parties involved are at work. Sure, then you need to materialize. And Inter needs it, which at that point would have the necessary funds – also considering those arriving for Brozovic, who we talk about in the opposite piece – to attempt a lunge on Lukaku. He would also have them because, for Onana’s replacement, the Nerazzurri are thinking of taking a different path. Perso Vicario – which would have meant investing around 20 million – the direction that is gaining ground in Zhang’s club is to focus on an expert goalkeeper, with personality, already used to playing at high levels, whose arrival, however, does not involve a significant financial outlay. Translated: the profile of Sommer, who Bayern can release on loan, is fine, much more than that of the Georgian Mamardashvili. But there is not only the Swiss. Inter have at least two other ideas in mind, two tracks that have already been explored. The first name is that of the 36-year-old Frenchman Hugo Lloris, world champion with France in 2018 and vice versa just a few months ago in Qatar, just leaving Vicario’s Tottenham. “For me it’s the end of an era, I want a new challenge,” he said in an interview in recent days. The other idea leads to Keylor Navas: born in 1986 like Lloris, he returned to PSG after his loan at Nottingham Forest, but will leave Paris. Both are due in 2024, both can be released by their clubs.
STRUCTURE
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Of course, then it will still be a question of finding a meeting point with Chelsea. With whom relations have cooled off a bit, because Inter has found a wall on the hypothesis of a new loan and also because the Nerazzurri don’t have players in the squad who could be the Blues’ case. One, only one, actually there would be: it’s Barella, a profile that Chelsea (and not only) likes a lot. But it is clear that those cannot be the basis on which to negotiate. Inter can think about the hypothesis of a purchase only if the price drops further, compared to the 40 million feared by the London club. A great deal of diplomacy is needed, because Lukaku is budgeted for 68 million and therefore already 40 would represent a strong capital loss for the British. Loan with redemption obligation set at 30 million: this could be the offer that Inter will be able to put together. It will take time, in any case. And an assist from Lukaku will also be needed. Because if the Belgian expects the Nerazzurri to concretely show the desire to buy him, on the other hand Inter are asking him to further reduce his wages compared to the 8.5 net salary he received last season. Not simple. We are still dealing with a player who continues to refuse the Al Hilal court and a contract worth 30 million a year. Romelu is waiting for Inter. But not forever, of course.
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