Chelsea agree fee with Aston Villa for Lukaku, but he wants Napoli move

Cheslea have agreed a deal with Aston Villa for Romelu Lukaku, who is also wanted by Napoli

According to Italian outlet Il Mattino (via Tutto Mercato), Aston Villa have agreed a deal with Chelsea to sign striker Romelu Lukaku, but the player is waiting for a move to Napoli.

Romelu Lukaku is not part of new head coach Enzo Maresca’s project at Stamford Bridge after returning from two different Serie A loan spells at Inter Milan and then AS Roma, both of whom did not attempt to make the move permanent. The big Belgian’s future is a big concern for Chelsea for the third summer running as things stand.

The Pensioners are now aiming to move him on permanently following two back-to-back loan spells with Inter and Roma. They want to move the striker’s eye-watering £325,000-per-week wages off their books as soon as possible and bring some stability to the wage bill.

The aforementioned report says that Lukaku has ‘given his word’ to Napoli boss Antonio Conte and doesn’t want to move to Villa Park, despite Chelsea agreeing a deal with Aston Villa. The Blues are losing patience and want the 31-year-old to not wait for a move from Napoli that can only proceed after the sale of Victor Osimhen, whose future in Naples have been in limbo since the start of the summer.

Lukaku and Conte enjoyed great success together at Inter, where they won the Scudetto a couple of years ago. Under the Italian tactician, the Belgium international played the best football of his career and scored a truckload of goals in Inter colours. So, it is quite clear why the 31-year-old is holding form over reuniting with Conte again.

One of the main stumbling blocks for Lukaku’s potential move to Napoli is Osimhen. Until and unless Osimhen departs, the Serie A side are finding it difficult to bear the overall package of the Chelsea misfit.

Moreover, Lukaku has no intention of accepting any proposal other than Napoli this summer and the Serie A side are confident they can squeeze time further to get Chelsea to lower their demands.

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The Blues will want to recoup at least some money of the £97.5 million they spent to bring the Belgium international back to Stamford Bridge in 2021. A swap deal involving Lukaku and Osimhen looks difficult to happen, but if that is the only solution left for our club to offload the former and his hefty wages, we must do everything possible to make it happen.