All about the situation of Lukaku and Vlahovic

The transfer window is always filled with lots of rumors and negotiations, and some of them can turn into whole sagas, with Kylian Mbappe’s departure from Paris Saint Germain possibly being the longest and best known example in recent years. However, we have had others throughout the European summer such as Kane to Bayern Munich which has already materialized, Bernardo Silva to FC Barcelona or Harry Maguire to West Ham, to name a few and there is also one of the most notorious: the Vlahovic – Lukaku swap deal.

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The situations of both players and their respective clubs are quite different from each other, and that has made the operation gradually more complicated. On the one hand, there is Romelu Lukaku, who in 2021 signed for Chelsea in exchange for a record fee (around 100 million euros) from Inter Milan, where the Belgian revived his career a bit after a not very prominent stint with Manchester United.

Lukaku didn’t do well at the London club, and that is why he was loaned out again to Inter, who, in the first instance, at the beginning of the summer, tried to keep Lukaku, but the Belgian showed intentions of signing for Juventus, and that was not to the liking of the fans of the Milan club or of the institution itself. Thus, the negotiations between Chelsea and Juventus for the Belgian striker began, and the name of Dusan Vlahovic appeared in the operation.

Inter vice president Zanetti: “Lukaku has betrayed us. We’re very disappointed”. 🔵🇧🇪 #CFC

“We expected completely different behaviour by Romelu, as professional but also as a man”, told Gazzetta. pic.twitter.com/RxlODyqH0C

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 8, 2023

This happened because Juventus are not in a good financial situation, and to fix this issue, even a little bit, they have had to put the Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic on the market since he is the most valuable player in the entire squad. For Juventus, it would be a very good operation because it could improve its economy with the departure of Vlahovic and at the same time it would have a high-level replacement. However, the Turin club has been met with rejection from their supporters when it comes to the possibility of signing a former Inter Milan player and selling the former Fiorentina striker in the process.

Juventus manager Allegri on Vlahović & Lukaku swap: “Vlahović is our striker, I already said that in case we receive big proposals the club is gonna decide as the target is to become sustenable” 🇷🇸

“I don’t decide on this kind of things — I am very happy with Vlahović”. pic.twitter.com/RMea99kr8W

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 9, 2023

On the other hand, there is Chelsea, who, after the enormous investment made last season (around 600 million euros), The London club has had to sell many players like Mateo Kovacic, Koulibaly, Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Mendy, or Christian Pulisic and let N’golo Kante, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Cesar Azpilicueta go as free agents. Chelsea wants to include Lukaku, who has a relatively high market value, in this rebuilding effort under the direction of new manager Mauricio Pochettino in order to make the acquisition of Vlahovic more affordable.

More on Dušan Vlahović. Chelsea have no intention to proceed with swap deal at Juventus conditions, as they keep asking for €40m plus Lukaku. 🔵🇷🇸

That’s why the swap is currently in stand-by with Chelsea looking at different options.

Lukaku agreed three year deal with Juve. pic.twitter.com/WLPikn8q88

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 9, 2023

At the moment of this writing, Chelsea is not happy with Juventus swap offer, as they keep demanding €40 million plus Lukaku. Additionally, another actor appears, which is Saudi football, since the Middle Eastern league wants to sign Lukaku, and while the Blues have been willing to accept the offers, the Belgian is not interested in leaving Europe right now. There is also a recent possibility of Tottenham signing Lukaku as a potential Harry Kane replacement.

For the moment, the market is still open, and the future of the Serbian and the Belgian is still to be defined.