Lukaku Finally Joins Inter For $89.6m On Deadline Day Transfer

Belgium and Manchester United striker, Romelu Lukaku has finally completed the long awaited switch to Serie A giant, Inter Milan for a club record fee of around $89.6m/€76m.

Inter Milan broke the bank to sign the Belgium international, replacing Mauro Icardi upfront as their first choice striker.

The Belgian international travelled to Milan on Wednesday and will have a medical at the Serie A club’s headquarters on today, Thursday.

Lukaku has been top on Antonio Conte wanted list since joining Inter Milan from Chelsea, and the Italian would be finally glad he lands his first choice striker.

The player’s representative, Federico Pastorello, spent most of on Wednesday in talks with United representatives in London to finally sort out the long-running saga and the two sides came to an agreement in the early evening. United had already knocked back one bid from Inter and had been hoping to received a fee of around €87m for the Belgium international but were in the end persuaded to accept the latest offer.

Lukaku was desperate to join Inter and his relationship with the United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, had deteriorated in the past week. He was fined by United for missing training without permission this week.

Inter had previously offered €70.2m including add-ons paid over two years and were initially hoping that the Belgian would join on loan for the first year. However, United’s resistance led to Inter, under pressure from their new manager, Antonio Conte, to raise their bid on Wednesday.

Inter’s final offer consisted of an initial €70.2m plus a further €5.8m in add-ons. United have managed to include a sell-on clause in the deal but do have to pay part of the fee to Everton.

The player has agreed a five-year deal with Inter worth around €325,000 a week. Conte is a long-time admirer of Lukaku and wanted to sign the Belgian when at Chelsea and will be delighted to have got his man.

Lukaku scored 27 goals in his first season at the club but managed only 15 in 2018-19. He joined United from Everton for €80m plus €15m in add-ons in July 2017.

Fans could be seen outside the stadium dancing and singing in celebration of the monumental signing.

The fee paid for Lukaku is a transfer record for Inter, the previous record for the Italian club being in 1999 when Christian Vieri joined from Lazio for €46m.

United will be pleased that the saga is over and Solskjær is confident he can be competitive with the options available up front. He has Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Alexis Sánchez and Mason Greenwood from whom to choose.

United were interested in signing Christian Eriksen and Paulo Dybala but have ended their interest in both players. The club decided that Dybala’s wage demands were excessive and Eriksen would prefer a move to Spain if he were to leave Tottenham this summer.

Dybala is earning more than €325,000 a week at Juventus before tax and was looking for an increase in that at United. A further complication was his image rights, which are expensive, as well as agents’ fees of up to €13m.

It has been a mixed transfer summer for United. They finished sixth in the Premier League last season, a demoralising 32 points behind the champions, Manchester City, but have been able to add the central defender Harry Maguire from Leicester for €86m, Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace for an initial €49m as well as Daniel James from Swansea for €16m in this window.

They also look like keeping hold of the midfielder Paul Pogba, who has been the subject of consistent interest from Real Madrid through the summer.

Pogba had said in June that “It could be a good time for a new challenge” but Solskjær said last weekend, after beating Milan 5-4 on penalties to maintain their 100 per cent record this summer, that he had “no doubts at all” over Pogba’s commitment to the club.

Asked then if Pogba will feature on the opening day of the season, when United face Chelsea at Old Trafford, Solskjær replied: “He should be okay. I hope so, anyway.”