Chelsea's Lukaku plan if Juventus transfer falls through

James Shearman

Updated: 23 Aug 2023 16:34 BST
3 min read

Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea, Inter — © ProShots

Chelsea will encourage Romelu Lukaku to move to Saudi Arabia if he does not end up at Juventus, reports Ben Jacobs.

Lukaku has been in talks with Juve for quite some time but they are unable to sign him until Dusan Vlahovic leaves.

Article continues under the video

Vlahovic had been offered to Chelsea in a potential swap deal but the Blues are not interested.

Should the Serbian stay in Turin, Lukaku will have to find another club to move to.

There appears to be no market for him in Europe, but Saudi Pro League clubs are interested.

And their transfer window remains open until September 20, giving the Belgian more time to complete a deal.

Al-Hilal wanted Lukaku previously, but they have since signed Aleksandar Mitrovic from Fulham.

#Chelsea will accept only a permanent transfer for Romelu Lukaku, with all loan interest having been refused outright.

(via @standardsport) pic.twitter.com/CBRkdtPQ49
— Talk Chelsea (@talkchelsea) August 23, 2023

Instead, Al-Shabab and Al-Ettifaq are two clubs that could make an offer in the coming weeks.

Chelsea are looking for around £40 million, despite signing him for almost £100m two seasons ago.

Lukaku and Pochettino

According to reports, Lukaku is not even on speaking terms with Mauricio Pochettino as he attempts to engineer a move out of Stamford Bridge this summer.

And the Belgian forward has successfully irritated a string of personalities and clubs this summer, with both Inter and Juventus fans protesting about the possibility of their respective teams signing the 30-year-old hitman.

In particular, the former Manchester United striker has left Inter seething after it emerged that he was holding secret talks with rivals Juventus as they attempted to re-sign him for a third spell.