‘Confirmed’- Chelsea hold talks with Italian side hoping to get £40m for want-away star

Chelsea have rejected another bid from Inter Milan and will only do business for a fee in the region of £40m for the want-away star Romelu Lukaku.

The Blues had to pay a then club record of £97.5million to sign him from Inter Milan after he had exploded in the Italian league and led Inter to the league title, the first they had in a decade.

But his Chelsea stay did not go as planned and after a season he was back at Inter on loan, he enjoyed another impressive season where they got to the Champions League final but were eventually beaten by Manchester City.

Inter Milan have held talks and are willing to sign the Chelsea man on a permanent basis but have seen their initial £26million bid for the striker turned down according to reports in Italy with Chelsea hoping to get at least half of the £90 plus million they first had to pay for him.

According to reports in Italy, Inter Milan have met Lukaku's agent and indicated their willingness to play under £30million with Gazzetta dello Sports claiming that Juventus are also keeping an eye on the development and will likely make a push for the striker if Inter pull out at some point.

Behind the scenes, the Belgian forward has told close friends he does not intend to stay at Stamford this season even though manager Mauricio Pochettino indicated in his press conference that the striker will have to come into his office to say hello to him the moment he returned to work next week.

Pochettino told the press: “Like with all of the players, the first thing they do when they arrive is to come to my office and see me. That is what I expect if he is still a Chelsea player.”

Chelsea have already signed Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku with an expectation that when Lukaku eventually leaves, they’ll bring in another forward to help with the goalscoring duties.