Chelsea have reportedly proposed a player-plus-cash offer to sign Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic, involving star loanee Romelu Lukaku.
According to a report from Gazzetta dello Sport, Chelsea have offered a part-exchange deal to land Dusan Vlahovic from Juventus in the summer. The Blues are considering using Inter Milan’s on-loan star Romelu Lukaku as a makeweight in a part-exchange deal to sign the Serbian hitman.
The re-imposition of a ten-point penalty for false accounting has prevented Juventus from securing a place in the Champions League for the next season. The financial implications of missing out on Europe’s elite competition could impact the Bianconeri massively and potentially lead to the departure of star players like Vlahovic.
Vlahovic joined Juventus in a £62 million transfer from Fiorentina in January last year. But he has not been at his best for Juventus this term, in part due to niggling injuries. A poor campaign for the Serbian forward still resulted in him breaking into double figures, scoring 14 goals across all competitions, holding the status of Juve’s top scorer this season.
It does look like a blip for Vlahovic since he was in sensational scoring touch over the last couple of seasons. He won the Young Serie A Player of the Year award during his time at Fiorentina. The Serbian striker is still 23, so his best years are ahead of him, and he remains one of the world’s best young strikers regardless of how his spell at Juventus has gone so far.
This is why clubs are queueing to add him to their roster, knowing he has all the tools of a killer striker that can thrive in the right system, and will likely want to move to another team to continue playing in the Champions League on a regular basis.
Bayern are currently said to be the front-runner to get the Serbian striker, but Chelsea have also been keeping tabs on the player’s situation since the West London outfit will sign a number nine this summer. Now, the English club have offered an interesting part-exchange deal for Vlahovic, with Romelu Lukaku possibly moving in the other direction.
Chelsea let £97.5 million signing Lukaku return to Inter on loan last summer after an underwhelming season in the Premier League. The 30-year-old Belgian forward started slowly this season. But in recent weeks he’s finally started to show the explosiveness and clinical finishing that made him a fan favourite during his first spell, scoring nine goals and providing four assists in his last 15 competitive outings for Inter.
The Nerazzurri cannot afford to re-sign him outright due to their financial problems and are working to iron out a new loan deal with Chelsea, who are looking for ways to offload the striker permanently elsewhere.
While the Blues have approached Juventus with the prospect of sending Lukaku and a sizable transfer fee in return for Vlahovic, the report adds that the Bianconeri are reportedly against the idea of accepting such a proposal due to the “recent controversies” surrounding the Belgian centre-forward.
And also the fact that they want to recoup at least what they paid for Vlahovic in the first place in a straight cash deal. Another deal-breaker could be that Lukaku has already made it clear that he only wants to play for Inter next season.
good job