Chelsea reject offer for £100 million striker

Chelsea face West London neighbours Fulham in a pre-season friendly on Sunday evening. 

The game is taking place as part of the Premier League Super Series being hosted in the USA, with the Blues having beaten Brighton and Hove Albion and then drawn with Newcastle United so far.

New manager Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping that his side can remain unbeaten when they face the Cottagers, with the start of the new Premier League season now just two weeks away.

In the meantime, Chelsea have reportedly rejected an offer for one of the most expensive players in the club’s history.

According to 90min, the Blues have rejected a loan offer from Juventus for striker Romelu Lukaku.

The Belgian has returned to Stamford Bridge following a loan spell at Inter Milan last season, but now faces an extremely uncertain future.

Lukaku, 30, spent time with Chelsea as a youngster and returned to the club in 2021, joining from Inter for a fee of £97.5 million.

Lukaku is unlikely to play for Chelsea again

The forward had helped Inter to the Serie A title during the 2020/21 season, scoring 24 goals in 36 league matches.

His return to London didn’t go to plan, though, as he scored just eight Premier League goals and criticised then-manager Thomas Tuchel during an interview with Italian media.

He was therefore sent back to Inter on loan last summer, and scored ten goals in 25 Serie A matches last term despite suffering with injuries.

The report claims that Chelsea are desperate to offload Lukaku this summer as he isn’t part of Pochettino’s plans, but they have so far failed to find a suitable destination for the Belgium international.

Lukaku – who has been left out of Chelsea’s squad for their pre-season tour of the US – looked likely to return to Inter Milan once again, but the Italian side surprisingly pulled out of talks over the proposed move.

While Chelsea have rejected Juventus’ loan offer in an effort to agree a permanent sale, the report claims that the Blues would likely agree to a loan deal that included an obligation-to-buy clause.