Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio has spoken out on the future of Romelu Lukaku.
30-year-old Lukaku spent the 2022/23 on loan at Inter, returning to the club where he formed a formidable strike partnership with Lautaro Martinez, and scored 14 goals in all competitions as the Nerazzurri reached the Champions League final.
90min recently revealed that Inter and Chelsea, Lukaku’s parent club, were close to agreeing a deal that would send the Belgian back to San Siro once more, with the Blues willing to sanction a loan deal with an obligation to buy.
Chelsea had been been to sell Lukaku on a permanent basis this summer, but recognise that Inter’s precarious financial situation means only a loan will be possible.
Lukaku has publicly stated his desire to return to Milan already, and sporting director Ausilio has now confirmed Inter’s intention to return him to the club.
“Lukaku is one of our important objectives. The whole sporting department wants him at Inter,” Ausilio said. “But for now he’s a Chelsea player. The dialogue remains open. They don’t want to send the player on loan. They said we must buy him. So we are now evaluating whether there is a possibility to sign him outright.
“I don’t like talking about priorities. Lukaku knows very well that we want to bring him back here. Let’s see if we can find a solution.”
READ MORE FROM THE 90MIN TALKING TRANSFERS TEAM
Manchester United have made a second offer for Inter goalkeeper Andre Onana, 90min understands, worth around €50m.
Inter have already rejected one bid from United worth a total of €45m, but United have returned with an improved offer in the hope of landing the Cameroonian international.
It’s believed that Inter are unlikely to accept United’s latest offer – they value Onana at closer to €60m – but there could be a compromise found in order to ease the Italian giants’ financial concerns.
Prior to the bid being received, Ausilio revealed that United were yet to present an offer that “met expectations” and confirmed there would be no movement until Inter were entirely satisfied.
“Right now, Onana is Inter’s goalkeeper. He’s one of the strengths of the team and we would like to continue with strong players,” he said. “If opportunities arise, we’ll evaluate and listen, but up till now, they haven’t arrived or haven’t met our expectations.
“Onana’s topic ends here. The pre-season starts on July 13 and he will rejoin the group. If something comes up in the next 15-20 days, we will evaluate it. Right now there are no dates or deadlines or the desire to deprive ourselves of any player.”
LISTEN NOW
On this week’s edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth, Graeme Bailey and Sean Walsh to discuss Man Utd’s priorities after agreeing a deal for Mason Mount, the latest on Arsenal’s move for Declan Rice, Tottenham’s targets and more!
If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
