Chelsea have informed Inter Milan that they can only sell Romelu Lukaku for not less than £40 million.
The San Siro club had put in a £30million bid for Lukaku last week, but Chelsea rejected it and are instead holding out for £40 million.
The Blues are eager to sell the wantaway Belgian, but they want to recover as much money as possible from their initial £97.5m investment.
90min reports that both clubs have been negotiating over Lukaku for months, with Chelsea rejecting Inter’s offer to take the player on loan for another season.
The Belgian, who spent last season on loan at San Siro, has informed Chelsea that he wants to join Inter permanently. He now waits for the San Siro side to meet Chelsea’s valuation.
Talks between the two clubs are ongoing and complicated because Chelsea still owe Inter some money for their initial purchase of Lukaku in the summer of 2021.
While that is not expected to get in the way of an agreement, it does add another layer to discussions.
Meanwhile, Lukaku is prepared to take a significant pay cut to try and aid the move.
He is focused solely on returning to Inter this summer despite attracting interest from elsewhere. Juventus have indicated interest in signing Lukaku, while there have also been concrete offers from Saudi Arabia.
However, the player wants to remain in Europe at this stage of his career, and he prefers remaining at San Siro over a move to Allianz Stadium.
