Since they finished the season in a spectacular way by winning the Champions League, Chelsea’s efforts to acquire a world class “number nine” were not fruitful.First on the wish list is Erling Haaland and Roman Abramovich was ready to break the bank in order to set aside a staggering 220 million USD for the super-talented Norwegian. The decision of Dortmund’s leaders to withdraw from any negotiations as much as possible led Chelsea to start looking in the other direction. The search led them to Milan, where Romelu Lukaku plays football of his life.Thomas Tuchel marked the strong Belgian as a striker who is needed by this team in order to win the Premier League, but Chelsea already fired two blanks towards Inter. According to The Athletic, Lukaku has already turned down two strong offers to return to Stamford Bridge. Despite the fact that Lukaku rejected them, even said that he wants to dedicate himself to his obligations at Inter, the mentioned source claims that Chelsea do not intend to give up so easily, which is why a third offer is expected.Giroud believes it was the higher power that was responsible for his departure from ChelseaChelsea started paying attention to Lukaku, mostly because Inter are going through a financial crisis. The Italian champions have not ruled out the possibility of selling Lautaro Martinez by the end of the summer and Chelsea’s city rivals Arsenal are interested.A reminder, Chelsea brought Lukaku exactly ten years ago from Anderlecht for 18 million USD. He was then marked as the legitimate successor of Didier Drogba, but he never got a real chance at Stamford Bridge. Instead, he spent time on loan at the WBA and Everton, after which the Toffees bought him off in July 2014 for 42 million USD. Three years later, he moved to Manchester United for 100 million USD, and two years ago he left the UK and moved to Inter for 88 million USD.He found himself in the ‘City of Fashion’ and confirmed the epithet of one of the best strikers in the world. He finished last season as the second-best Serie A scorer behind Cristiano Ronaldo with 24 goals, but eventually Lukaku was chosen as the most useful player of the Italian championship.Injured Partey limps off as Chelsea bang Arsenal in a pre-season friendlyHe has been in contact with other clubs several times since he left for Inter. But each time he refused to even think about leaving, especially to return to the UK where critics called him “fat and sluggish” with the assessment that “there is no quality for the Premier League”. But he proved to everyone that he just needed the right system around him.He got the needed system from Antonio Conte – Lukaku was Conte’s major wish when the Italian was at Chelsea, but the manager was not indulged. Conte left Inter after winning the title, and Simone Inzaghi took his place, who would rather give up Lautaro than Lukaku, if someone had to go. Lukaku and Lautaro formed a proper attacking tandem, one of the best in Europe. But Inter need money.The Nerazzurri have already sold Achraf Hakimi to PSG for 71 million + 12 million USD, got rid off Joao Mario and they are working to create some significant off-load profits. Ashley Young and Dalbert left as free agents for Aston Villa and Cagliari, respectively, and departures of Arturo Vidal, Alexis Sanchez, Radja Nainggolan and Matias Vecino are expected.
