Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Chelsea have agreed on an unofficial release clause for Romelu Lukaku to leave the club next summer.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside on yesterday’s Debrief Podcast, Romano explained that the Blues reached a gentleman’s agreement with the player’s agent to allow him to leave for a fee of around €40million next summer, so as to avoid the complications they found when trying to offload him to the likes of Inter Milan and Juventus this year.
In the end, Lukaku ended up joining Roma on loan for the season, and it remains to be seen what decision they’ll make on the Belgium international as it looks like they’re set to go through a number of changes off the pitch, which could complicate decisions relating to signings.
Lukaku has performed well at Roma, so one imagines they’d do well to keep him, but Romano also says the unofficial €40m clause is open to any club, so if he continues to impress at the Stadio Olimpico, there could also end up being other suitors joining the race for his signature.
“From what I’m told, Romelu Lukaku has something like a release clause, but not a proper release clause,” Romano said.
“There is a gentleman’s agreement between the player’s agents and Chelsea, because they don’t want a situation like a few months ago in the summer transfer window when they had to negotiate with Juventus, then with Inter, then with Roma – it was a very complicated summer for Chelsea around the Lukaku story, and so there is now a possibility for him to leave for €40m – and that’s not just for Roma, that’s for any club.
“From what I’m told, Roma still have no clarity on what will happen next season with some key figures, such as manager Jose Mourinho and director Tiago Pinto – it’s therefore too early for Roma to decide if they can pay that money for Lukaku. We’ll have to see around March/April when things will become more clear.”