Arsenal
Chelsea Target Keen On Arsenal Move But Wenger Baulks At £50m Price Tag
Chelsea target Romelu Lukaku is keen to join Arsenal this summer but Arsene Wenger has baulked at Everton’s £50m valuation of the striker.
The opening of the summer transfer window is fast approaching so we’ll bring you all the latest transfer rumours and gossip from around the globe. Today, Romelu Lukaku is keen to join Arsenal but his £50m price tag is proving to be a problem….
Chelsea target Romelu Lukaku is keen to join Arsenal this summer but Arsene Wenger has baulked at Everton’s £50m valuation of the striker, according to a report in the Mirror.
Lukaku enjoyed his most prolific ever season last year having scored 25 goals in all competitions for a struggling Everton side that ended up finishing eleventh in the Premier League table.
The Belgian international’s impressive form has attracted interest from some of England’s most powerful clubs with the Daily Star reporting last week that Arsenal had joined Chelsea in the race for his signature this summer.
New Blues boss Antonio Conte is set for a busy few months in the transfer market when he eventually takes over at Stamford Bridge with a new striker to support Diego Costa up front expected to be a priority and the Star claims that the Italian tactician has made Lukaku one of his prime targets.
It looks as though Arsenal have stolen a march on their London rivals with the Mirror carrying quotes from Italian journalist Emanuele Giulianelli suggesting that Arsenal have already held initial talks with Everton over a potential deal.
However, while Giulianelli claims that Lukaku is keen on moving to the Emirates, the journalist – who works for Gazzetta dello Sport – says that Arsenal are reluctant to meet Everton’s asking price after being told that the striker would cost £50m.
Giulianelli is quoted as saying by the Mirror:
“Arsenal aren’t too optimistic after hearing they’d have to pay £50m for Lukaku to Everton.
“Informal contact was made yesterday between Arsenal and Everton but in my opinion the deal won’t progress despite Lukaku wanting the move.”
Arsene Wenger is in the market for a new striker this summer and has seemingly turned his attention to Lukaku after Jamie Vardy turned his back on a switch to North London in favour of signing a new deal at Leicester City.
The usually frugal Frenchman has loosened the purse-strings in recent years with the big-money signings of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and more recently Granit Xhaka but I don’t see the Gunners boss spending £50m on Lukaku.
The 23-year-old is a great talent with plenty of potential but he’s not the finished article just yet so I don’t see a deal being agreed with Arsenal unless Everton lower their asking price – which they are under no pressure to do after being taken over by a billionaire businessman.
READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news | Chelsea transfer news
That could leave the door open for Chelsea to step-up their interest in Lukaku so unless Arsenal are prepared to dig deep, they could miss out on another one of their striker targets this summer.
