Chelsea hope to secure £70m Romelu Lukaku deal with Loic Remy used as makeweight
Sam Wallace, chief football writer
2 AUGUST 2016 • 7:08PM
The French striker Loic Remy is a potential component of the deal that Chelsea hope will bring Romelu Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge, but is proving hard for the London club to push through before the start of the season despite the record fee on offer.
Chelsea are prepared to break their 2011 transfer record of £50 million for Fernando Torres to do a deal that could be worth as much as £70 million for a player they sold two years earlier.
They recognise that Everton have preoccupations about their own squad cover for the season and Remy is a possible part of any deal, although by no means a replacement for the Belgian striker who has scored 45 goals in two seasons.
Remy was due to leave Chelsea in January which is why Alessandro Pato was brought in on a short term loan deal. Remy has failed to make much of an impression under Jose Mourinho and Guus Hiddink and his chances would be radically limited behind Lukaku, Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi.
Koeman has always tended towards having at least one striker in the target-man style in his squads. He could also look at Bas Dost, the Dutch striker at Wolfsburg who has interested Everton in the past, when he was still playing at Heerenveen in the Eredivisie. Wilfried Bony is another who fits the template of the kind of striker that could be required.
Everton are well aware that Lukaku wants the move back to Chelsea but have to weigh up first the balance of their own squad ten days before the start of the new Premier League season.Chelsea have not returned to bid for John Stones whom they went to such lengths to try to sign last summer and the club are aware that the Lukaku deal could take until the end of August to conclude.
They play their final match of the United States tour against AC Milan in Minneapolis on Wednesday and will be back in London on Thursday. They travel to Germany to play Werder Bremen on Sunday.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/08/02/chelsea-hope-to-secure-romelu-lukaku-deal-with-loic-remy-used-as/
