Chelsea player ‘annoyed’ over blocked transfer as £60m bid rejected

Romelu Lukaku is not happy with Chelsea after their latest transfer move, according to reports.

The 30-year-old’s future at Chelsea is becoming increasingly unclear after he spent the 2022/23 season on loan with Inter Milan, just a year after leaving for Stamford Bridge. 

Lukaku moved to Chelsea for a then club-record fee of £97.5 million, but his first year was considered a disaster after an unauthorised interview with Sky Italy sparked tension with the club.

A decision was made for the Belgium international to return to the San Siro on loan last summer. Now his future must be resolved again ahead of 2023-24.

New Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino will speak to Lukaku, however the forward is keen on remaining at Inter after rejecting a move to Saudi Arabia.

But, as reported by Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph, Lukaku is ‘annoyed’ that Chelsea are yet to sanction another move to the Champions League finalists. 

Chelsea are reluctant to allow Lukaku to leave on another loan, preferring to sell him, but Inter are cash-strapped and unlikely to fork out a sizeable fee which would convince the Blues to sell him on a permanent basis. 

Talks between the clubs are currently ongoing over Andre Onana and Kalidou Koulibaly. Meanwhile, interest from both clubs remains in Trevoh Chalobah and Lautaro Martinez.

Pochettino’s side report back to their Cobham training base at the beginning of July and both Chelsea and Lukaku will be keen to get his future resolved before then.

Deals are on the verge of being completed for Mateo Kovacic to join Man City and N’Golo Kante to make the lucrative switch to Saudi Arabia. 

In other news, Chelsea had a £60 million bid rejected for Moises Caicedo by Brighton & Hove Albion two weeks ago, as reported by David Ornstein. They are holding out for in excess of £80 million, with Andy Naylor reporting the valuation sits at £100 million.