Chelsea match Manchester United’s £75million Romelu Lukaku bid as Premier League transfer war for Everton star hots up
Roman Abramovich is refusing to pay the massive agents fee Mino Raiola has been offered by Jose Mourinho
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CHELSEA have matched Manchester United’s bid of £75million for Everton striker Romelu Lukaku.
The Premier League champs have had to scramble to try to save a deal they thought was in the bag for weeks.
Now the ball is in Lukaku’s court after agent Mino Raiola moved swiftly to set up the original deal with United.
Chelsea are understood to be willing to match United on the fee plus £250,000-a-week personal terms. But they will not pay Raiola — who banked millions from Paul Pogba’s £89m switch to United from Juventus last year.
That has put Lukaku, 24, in a difficult position as to rejoin Chelsea, who sold him to Everton for £28m in July 2014, would be a snub to his own representative.
United feel they are still in the box seat and are due to jet out tomorrow to Los Angeles — where Lukaku is holidaying with his pal Pogba.
A medical has already been held and United are still confident of completing a deal in time for him to join up with the rest of squad in LA.
Raiola also looks after Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who both joined United last summer.
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Old Trafford boss Jose Mourinho was the man who let Lukaku go when he was boss at Chelsea — the team the Belgian said he had dreamed of playing since he was ten.
But the Special One is now a big fan of the striker who became the first Everton player since Gary Lineker in 1986 to plunder 20 league goals in a season last term.
Lukaku knows Chelsea boss Antonio Conte wants him back at Stamford Bridge however to help the Blues’ bid to retain last season’s crown.
The tug of war over Lukaku has had a knock-on effect for Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic.
Matic had been set to rejoin Mourinho at United for £38m but the Old Trafford outfit have turned to Tottenham’s Eric Dier instead.
Former Belgium boss Georges Leekens, who gave Lukaku his international debut at 18, believes the powerhouse striker has matured well.
Leekens declared: “He is the complete package.
“When he went to Chelsea he was 18 and had been playing and scoring regularly for Anderlecht.
“But he wanted everything to happen too quickly at Chelsea.
"He got frustrated because things weren’t happening for him there as they had in Belgium.
“He would see playing for his country as a release during that time.
"He wouldn’t be getting a game at Chelsea but he still had the same enthusiasm for football and for scoring goals.
“He was great to have around. We would take him on the bus with us when he was injured and couldn’t play because his enthusiasm was infectious.”