Chelsea have yet to pay up to £ 71m of the £ 97.5m fee they agreed with Inter to sign Romelu Lukaku last summer.
The Blues moved to take Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge after an eight-year absence after two impressive seasons in Italy, helping Inter overtake Juventus at the top of Serie A to beat Nerazzuri’s first Scudetto in over a decade.
But it has not really worked for Lukaku in his childhood club yet, he recorded only five Premier League goals and is often overlooked up to Kai Havertz.
The Sun reports that amid Chelsea’s need to sell the club following the imposition of sanctions on Roman Abramovich, the Blues still have to pay up to £ 71m for the Belgian striker, but not directly to Inter.
They also owe around £ 100m in transfer fees for players in their current squad, although they are queuing up to get £ 167m from other clubs regarding previous player sales.
Chelsea are currently working on a special license following the British government’s decision to sanction Abramovich, one of which is the introduction of what is in practice a transfer embargo. But they can still pay and receive fees for transfers that have already been made, with the only question being whether they have the resources to pay other clubs what they owe them.
As for the Lukaku deal, Chelsea Inter paid an initial installment of £ 19 million – a figure revealed by the Italian side when they refinanced their debts earlier this year – and would pay them four more installments during the season.
In an attempt to raise money, Inter made a deal with a financial institution, so the remaining installments for the Blues will go to this third party instead of the San Siro club.
