Reports: Napoli offer €25+5m for Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea want €40m

Chelsea and Napoli continue to dance carefully around the negotiating table for the distinct privilege to be Romelu Lukaku’s latest most favoritest team, but it sounds like we’re not quite in desperation mode yet.

Reports in Italy, including from a Gianluca Di Marzio struggling for relevance in the Age of Fabrizio, claim that Napoli have offered €25m plus a bit more in add-ons (€5m), and that they want to get it done without having to worry about Victor Osimhen’s situation, so it’s actually a loan offer with an obligation instead of just a straight-up transfer.

They are said to be quite firm on this arrangement, which is unfortunate because Chelsea are not happy with the fee — even if we could afford to use up one of our precious few remaining international loan slots for this.

Chelsea are apparently still holding out for “at least” €40m, and presumably would prefer to collect the fee now. And of course if we could net Victor Osimhen (on loan?) out of this deal as well, that would be even more tremendous. PSG seem to have cooled on the 25-year-old striker, though he’s still not keen on a temporary solution, so this one’s expected to go down to deadline day.