Earlier on Tuesday, news broke that Atletico Madrid and Chelsea had come to an agreement on a loan deal for wantaway forward Joao Felix.
The loan is set to cost Chelsea over €15m in the next six months, including salary and fee. However with no buy option included in his contract, there is already speculation about how a deal might be done at the end of the season.
According to Dean Jones, via Caught Offside, Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku might be used as a makeweight in a deal at the end of the season. With Chelsea unlikely to be able to meet Atletico Madrid’s demands of over €100m, Lukaku’s inclusion would be a way of cheapening the deal for the Blues.
Lukaku is currently on loan at Inter, where fitness issues have kept him out for most of the season so far. The relationship between Lukaku and Chelsea is broken though, and he will likely seek either a new club or to continue at Inter next summer.
Provided Diego Simeone is still at Atletico Madrid, then Lukaku would seem to be a good fit. A pacey target man capable of bringing others into the game and comfortable playing on the break, he might be the number nine Simeone has been looking for since Luis Suarez began struggling last season.
