Manchester United agree fee with Inter Milan for Romelu Lukaku
Manchester United have agreed an 80million euro (£73.7m) fee with Inter Milan for Romelu Lukaku, PA understands.
It is understood Inter have increased their bid after having a 60 million euros (£54m) offer rejected last month.
On Wednesday evening Lukaku’s agent Federico Pastorello posted a picture on Instagram of himself and the striker, accompanied by the words: “Ready to take off …. direction Milano.”
Social media footage appeared to show fans welcoming Lukaku to Milan in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The 26-year-old is set to leave Old Trafford for pastures new just two years after his big-money switch from Everton.
Having seen a swap deal with Juventus collapse due to Paulo Dybala’s reluctance to go the other way, Antonio Conte’s Nerazzurri returned with another bid as Lukaku started the week training with former club Anderlecht.
United’s players had a day off on Monday and it was reported that Lukaku was expected back in Manchester on Tuesday with the rest of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
However, Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws published a photo of the striker training with Anderlecht once again – a matter United declined to comment on when contacted by PA.
The player had joined the Old Trafford giants on their pre-season tour of Australia and Asia but failed to feature in any of their four matches due to knocks. He was also absent for the friendlies against Kristiansund and AC Milan upon returning to Europe.
Lukaku scored 42 times in 96 games as a United player but he failed to find the net in any of his final eight appearances for the club, with his last goals coming in the dramatic 3-1 win away to Paris St Germain in early March.
FourFourTwo was launched in 1994 on the back of a World Cup that England hadn’t even qualified for. It was an act of madness… but it somehow worked out. Our mission is to offer our intelligent, international audience access to the game’s biggest names, insightful analysis... and a bit of a giggle. We unashamedly love this game and we hope that our coverage reflects that.
‘After Manchester City’s recent form, maybe they’re the underdogs against Manchester United!’ Former Red Devils defender on this weekend’s derby
‘Arteta, Alonso, Emery, me… none of us were physical players – we needed the understanding of the game. That probably helped us move into management’: Premier League boss reveals reasons for natural career progression