Chelsea agree £5m loan deal with Roma for Lukaku

Chelsea are drawing a close to the saga surrounding Romelu Lukaku‘s immediate future by agreeing a loan deal with Roma.

The 30-year-old will take a pay cut to reunite with his former boss Jose Mourinho with Chelsea receiving just over £5million as a loan fee.

Chelsea accepted less than their desired £8m fee so that they will not have to make any contribution to Lukaku’s salary while he is in Rome where he will earn around £6.4million.

However, he must take a further cut should he return to Chelsea again after a year with Lukaku previously raking in £320,000-per-week, while the Blues have also inserted a £37million release clause into his revised contract.

Chelsea had been intent on selling Lukaku this summer, until the Belgian turned down a move to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, effectively sabotaged a switch to Inter Milan and then decided he did not want to join Juventus. Inter had offered £23m and £26m before pulling out after discovering that Lukaku had been talking to Juventus.

Chelsea were then forced to consider a loan but wanted to protect themselves from paying Lukaku a hefty salary once again should he return next summer, when he would still have two years left on his contract.