Chelsea have reportedly been presented with a fresh offer for Romelu Lukaku.
Ever since the arrival of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital as co-owners in May 2022, there have been numerous fruitless attempts to sell the Belgium international.
The Blues have been able to make savings courtesy of loan deals with Inter Milan and Roma, who paid a fee as well as taking on the player's big wage packet.
However, with just two years remaining on Lukaku's contract, there is an added urgency to find a permanent new home for the player.
Napoli are known to be extremely interested in the 31-year-old, who they view as the ideal replacement for Victor Osimhen if they can sell their leading marksman.
Although Chelsea are regarded as long-term admirers of the Nigeria international, it remains to be seen whether they have the finances to pull off what would be one of the deals of the summer.
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Napoli make renewed effort to sign Lukaku
According to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Napoli are making a new attempt to find a resolution that suits all parties.
The report claims that the 2022-23 Italian champions have presented a proposal worth €25m (£21.4m) plus €5m (£4.2m) in add-ons.
Di Marzio adds that there is no expectation that Chelsea will accept the offer, the West Londoners intent on recouping €43m (£36.8m).
At this stage of the transfer window, that stance could be perceived to be ambitious when admirers of the player know that Chelsea can ill-afford to keep him on their books.
Nevertheless, a balance needs to be found with Boehly and Clearlake naturally not wanting to make a loss on the books. Napoli's current bid would mean that they lose out from an amortisation standpoint.
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Chelsea running out of time for fire-sale
While there is an argument that Chelsea still have three weeks to oversee the exits that they wish, time is running out to do things on their terms.
Lukaku, as well as Kepa Arrizabalaga, are players that club officials need to find new homes as fast as possible to avoid being pushed into a corner over transfers.
Chelsea are also down to four foreign loan slots available and they will not want to use any of them to resolve the futures of the aforementioned high-earning duo.
One fringe player is on the brink of being sold to Strasbourg with a buy-back clause, rather than departing on a temporary basis.
Darren Plant
