Aston Villa close to signing £98m Manchester United and Chelsea reject
Aston Villa have made a surprise move for a £98m Man United and Chelsea flop - and look like they could get a deal over the line soon.
According to Italian publication Calcio Napoli 24, Chelsea were on the verge of selling one of their strikers to SCC Napoli - who are searching for a replacement for the inveitably outbound Victor Osimhen. But at the eleventh hour, the Naples side may have been snubbed in favour of an intra-league switch.
Now, the claret and blue outfit is on the verge of signing Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku, who returned to Chelsea for £97.5m in 2021. But his Premier League comeback was underwhelming, and he has spent the past two seasons out on loan in Serie A - first to Inter Milan and then to Roma, with Chelsea desperate to offload the 31-year-old from their wage bill.
It’s thought that Chelsea will entertain offers around the £31m mark, indicating they are prepared to take a massive financial loss on Lukaku simply to be rid of him. He has not travelled with the London club for pre-season and has been training separately from the squad.
An editorial piece in Calcio Napoli read: “Lukaku has given his word to [Antonio] Conte, he is waiting for Napoli but Chelsea risks putting him against the wall because, obviously, his situation cannot go on for too long. Chelsea found a total agreement with Aston Villa in the last few hours for his transfer and is pushing for Lukaku to find an agreement on the contract.
“He continues to train on his own and will do so for a few more days because he is not expected to return to work with the rest of the team. But between Lukaku and Chelsea we are now almost at an ultimatum.”