Romelu Lukaku is currently being represented by Sebastien Ledure in negotiations between Chelsea, Inter and other interested parties, but who is the lawyer crucial in deciding Lukaku’s next destination?
Ledure, who speaks four languages including English and Italian, specialises in sports law and in 2016 launched the firm Cresta, who offer exclusive consultancy to some of the world’s top players and most exciting talents.
Since 2018, he has been involved in the ‘Operation Zero’ investigation, a scandal that uncovered organised crime, money laundering and tax fraud at the heart of Belgian football.
Ledure’s motto, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport is to always: “defend the interests of the athlete with no conflicts of interest.”
Ledure has previously worked with a number of top talents from Belgium and the Netherlands, namely Kevin De Bruyne, Memphis Depay and Alexis Saelemaekers. He was also heavily involved in Lukaku’s original loan back to Inter from Chelsea last summer.
Now, the lawyer has been entrusted with representing Lukaku in discussions between Chelsea and other clubs interested in signing Belgium’s all-time record goalscorer this summer.
It had been thought that Inter would be able to strike up a deal with Chelsea for a fee in the region of €35m-€40m, however, negotiations have recently stalled as reports on Friday evening highlighted that neither club have been able to get hold of Ledure.
Whilst Ledure claims to have Lukaku’s best interests at heart, La Gazzetta details that he would likely receive a higher payment if the player were to request a higher salary at his next club.
La Gazzetta dello Sport also writes that Ledure is creating confusion and risks seeing a move to Inter collapse.
According to reports over the weekend, Chelsea would like to have a deal wrapped up for Lukaku as quickly as possible, preferably before the team sets off for their pre-season tour of the United States on Sunday.