Champions League: Romelu Lukaku Setback For Chelsea

Striker Romelu Lukaku will not be on the sidelines as defending champions Chelsea look to trail Real Madrid 3-1 in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Lukaku, who came off the bench in the first leg, has yet to recover from the Achilles injury that kept him out of Saturday’s 6-0 Premier League victory over Southampton.
Captain Cesar Azpilicueta travels to Spain after missing the game with Southampton after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Romelu Lukaku has been ruled out of Chelsea's trip to Real Madrid due to injury 🤕 pic.twitter.com/obuleaSVnF

— GOAL News (@GoalNews) April 11, 2022

Midfielder Ross Barkley is out due to illness.
Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell remain out with back and knee injuries.
The winner will face either Manchester City or Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals, with City leading 1-0 ahead of Wednesday’s second leg in Spain.
Chelsea lost to Naples 1-3 in the first round of the last 16 last season, but they advanced to the quarter-finals with a total score of 5-4.
“Chelsea vs Napoli, they lost 3-1 and came back,” said Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
“Football is always surprising, we have to be over 100 per cent.”
Regarding the loss to Real Madrid in the first leg, he said: “We didn’t play the best game and the result was not very good, but there is hope and we are motivated to do our best.”
The Bernabeu will be Chelsea’s first European game.

Chelsea transfer news,

Chelsea transfer news, Romelu Lukaku will not play in Inter Milan’s pre-season friendly at Parma on Sunday after widespread reports in Italy said the striker was set to rejoin Chelsea in a deal worth up to 115 million euros ($135 million).

Belgium forward Lukaku was not in the Inter Milan’s squad for the match at the Stadio Ennio Tardini, which will kick off at 1700 GMT and is expected to feature protests from supporters against a likely sale that comes after a concerted pursuit from European champions Chelsea.

Inter Milan are preparing to offload the 28-year-old for a fee which comes close to the record paid by a British club just days after Manchester City laid out £100 million (118 million euros) to sign England international Jack Grealish from Aston Villa.

Lukaku, who fired Inter Milan to last year’s Serie A title — their first since 2010 — was initially keen to stay in Italy after becoming a huge fan favourite under previous coach Antonio Conte.

Last month he told official club channel Inter TV that he wanted to “achieve even more than last year” after scoring 24 league goals in the 2020/21 campaign and being voted player of the season.

However the Gazzetta Dello Sport reports that Lukaku changed his mind and now wants to return to Chelsea, where, after signing from Anderlecht in 2011, he failed to make an impression ahead of a star-studded roll call of forwards. The roll call included his idol Didier Drogba.

Italian broadcaster Sky Sport reported on Sunday that Inter have agreed personal terms with veteran Edin Dzeko to replace Lukaku, the Bosnia & Herzegovina striker having come close to leaving Roma for the Milan club in January.

Inter’s difficult summer

The departure of Lukaku has angered Inter Milan fans who are experiencing a difficult summer after watching their team romp to a 19th league crown.

Coach Conte walked away from Inter Milan last month with a year still left on his contract following clashes with the club’s cash-strapped Chinese owners.

Conte, who was replaced with Simone Inzaghi, refused Suning’s planned cost-cutting which would have prevented him building the team he wanted to challenge at home and in Europe.

Inter Milan have already sold marauding wing-back Achraf Hakimi, a key figure in the title win, to Paris Saint-Germain for a reported initial 60 million euros, after just one season in Italy.

There were even reports in England that Inter had agreed a fee in excess of £60 million to sell Lukaku’s striker partner Lautaro Martinez to Tottenham Hotspur, although they were quickly denied by both Inter and the player’s agent Alejandro Camano.

Argentina forward Martinez is in Inter’s starting line-up against Parma alongside rookie Uruguayan Martin Satriano.

Inter Milan made losses of 100 million euros in the 2019/20 season mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic which has caused havoc to club finances across Europe.

According to finance company Deloitte, revenues in Serie A that season were down 18 percent, the biggest drop of Europe’s top five leagues.

The Suning Group, which owns Inter Milan’s, shut down their Chinese club Jiangsu FC in February just months after it won the Chinese Super League title.

In May Suning obtained financing worth 275 million euros ($336 million) with US investment firm Oaktree Capital designed to get the club through its current financial strife.

chelsea-transfer-newslukaku-return-to-chelsea2783

Champions League: Lukaku Setback For Chelsea

Champions League: Romelu Lukaku Setback For Chelsea

chelsea transfer news:Lukaku return to Chelsea

Chelsea transfer news,

Inter’s difficult summer