The Romelu Lukaku saga looks like it could be the story of this summer’s transfer window.
The Everton striker had been heavily touted to be heading to Chelsea – until yesterday, when multiple media outlets reported that the move had been hijacked by Manchester United, for a cool £75 million.
Yet less than an hour later, that story was quickly rubbished. Did the move to Old Trafford hit a snag, or was none of it true? We’re still not sure.
Sources tell me "no deal reached" between @everton and @ManUtd for Romelu Lukaku. Reports of £75m fee agreement "incorrect."
— Jim White (@JimWhite) July 6, 2017
This one ain't over folks https://t.co/Vt673bdJpG
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 7, 2017
The mere idea of Lukaku going to Man United raise many an eyebrow though, because it would mean the Belgian playing under Jose Mourinho again. It was of course Mourinho that sold Lukaku to Everton when he was Chelsea manager in 2014.
Back then he was still just a good young player who’d has strong loan spells at Everton and West Brom. Three years later, he’s now one of the best strikers in the Premier League.
If Mourinho was to re-sign him, it would essentially be admitting he was wrong to sell him – and Jose’s not one to sheepishly go back on himself now, is he?
It does appear however that Mourinho did make one big error – but this error is going to end up costing Chelsea, and not him. A 2016 article from The Telegraph says that Chelsea did not include a buy-back clause in their deal with Everton.
According to the story, sources in Belgium say the West London club had been open to “the idea of accepting a lower fee for Lukaku from Everton and including a buy-back clause in the deal so that he could easily be taken back to Stamford Bridge.” Lukaku himself was even himself said to be in favour of the clause, as he worried about living up to a big transfer fee.
But Mourinho was reportedly so adamant that Lukaku would never turn into the sort player that Chelsea would want back, so they did not follow through with the idea.
And with crazy transfer figures now being bandied about, you can imagine that Antonio Conte would love to have been able to swoop in and pick up Lukaku for a cut price.
With reports of a rival Chelsea bid being made [see above], this one is looking very interesting.
