According to Sky Sport Italia and Sportitalia, Inter have now agreed terms with Chelsea to bring back Romelu Lukaku on loan for €8m plus bonuses and the paperwork is being drawn up.
The centre-forward only left under a year ago for €113m, but immediately expressed regret about the decision and said in December he wanted to return to San Siro.
It wasn’t expected to be quite so immediate, but Inter need to get the deal done by June 30 in order to continue to benefit from the tax breaks on his salary.
The bonuses are tied to the objectives of the club rather than the player, so will be activated if Inter win the Scudetto, Champions League or Europa League, up to €4-5m.
They are not tied to the achievements of the player, so how many goals or appearances Lukaku makes are irrelevant to the payment.
There will be no option to buy, let alone an obligation, so this is a dry loan.
Lukaku has also accepted a significant pay cut in order to push through the transfer to Inter.
According to FCInterNews.it, the Belgium international will have his medical on Friday at the latest.
The news comes just hours after Inter announced coach Simone Inzaghi had extended his contract to June 2024.
Funnily enough, Lukaku immediately ‘liked’ that post on Instagram, further proving his desperation to get back to Serie A.
Sky Sport Italia also report that lawyer Sebastien Ledure, who is working with Lukaku to get the deal done, arrived this morning at the club HQ hiding in the back of CEO Beppe Marotta’s car.