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In-demand striker feels he has “unfinished business” at the club where he started just one league game in three years and was sent on two season-long loans.
Romelu Lukaku believes he has “unfinished business” at Chelsea .
His private view puts the deposed Premier League champions in pole position to land the Everton striker, who has already admitted he wants to join “a top club” this summer.
The London Blues’ owner Roman Abramovich will bankroll new manager Antonio Conte ’s bid to restore them to the summit of English football — and deliver a return to the Champions League — next season.
Chelsea want 22-year-old Lukaku back and are quietly confident of landing him — even though Everton are likely to ask for more than double the £28million they paid them for him in July 2014.
Manchester United and German duo Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are also interested in the marksman, who has scored 25 goals this season — including three that have helped Everton into this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Man United.
It is understood Lukaku, who originally joined Chelsea from Anderlecht in his Belgian homeland for £18m in 2011 but only ever started one Premier League match for them in three years, never wanted to leave Chelsea and still believes he could become an asset for the Stamford Bridge club.
He rocked Everton last month when he admitted: “For me, things are going well at Everton right now. I can become top scorer of the Premier League. But, yes, I could be leaving the club in the summer.”
Lukaku was taken to Goodison initially on a year’s loan in 2013, following a season farmed out at West Brom, before his switch was made permanent for that club-record fee 12 months later after he hit 16 goals in 33 games.
He has since netted a further 55 times for the Merseyside club in 88 appearances.
Despite reaching the semi-finals of both domestic cup competitions, the Toffees have underachieved in the Premier League this season and sit 11th with five games to go — leaving boss Roberto Martinez under pressure.
Although Lukaku at the time confirmed claims from his father, Roger , last month that United and Bayern are also keen on him, he is also well aware of Chelsea’s strong interest.It is understood the Stamford Bridge hierarchy had not been keen to allow the player to leave, but the Belgium international had struggled to force his way into then-manager Jose Mourinho’s plans.He had also been adamant that he wanted first-team football.
