Italian heavyweights AC Milan have been hot on the heels of Chelsea flop Romelu Lukaku, but it now appears they've set their sights on another one of Enzo Maresca's players.
Milan in talks to sign Lukaku who has given the green light to join
The Belgium international, on a reported £325,000 per week, will unfortunately go down as one of the club's biggest transfer mistakes in recent memory.
"Quality" forward wants to leave Chelsea as Premier League side open talks
Negotiations are ongoing over a deal.
ByEmilio Galantini
Chelsea paid around £98 million to re-sign Lukaku from Inter Milan in 2021, but things really haven't worked out.
The 31-year-old has been sent on various loan spells back to Serie A since putting pen to paper on his £19m-a-year contract at Stamford Bridge, spending the 2022/23 season on a temporary return to Inter before signing on loan for Roma last campaign.
Appearances
47
Goals
21
Assists
4
Yellow cards
5
Red cards
1
Minutes played
3,910
Lukaku totalled 23 Serie A goals across his spells at Inter and Roma, though, perhaps indicating the Italian top flight is his spiritual home. Before his move back to Chelsea three years ago, the striker's 24 goals and 11 assists propelled Inter to a 2021/22 Scudetto triumph under Antonio Conte, but his ties to the Nerazzurri haven't stopped Milan from taking a firm interest.
Indeed, Paulo Fonseca's side are believed to be in negotiations over signing Lukaku right now. Various reports from Italy this week, including Sky Italia, back Milan's interest in the former Everton star.
Newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport even claimed that Lukaku has given his green-light to join Milan. Meanwhile, Sky stated that Milan are in talks with Chelsea and pushing to seal a loan deal for Lukaku.
The Rossoneri and Chelsea have enjoyed a fruitful business relationship in recent years, with Olivier Giroud, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fikayo Tomori all swapping Stamford Bridge for the San Siro since 2021.
Amid Milan's talks over Lukaku, it appears they want to prise away another Chelsea player as well, and add to their growing list of ex-Blues.
AC Milan open talks to sign Carney Chukwuemeka
Sky Italia reporter and transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio says Carney Chukwuemeka is now a target for them.
Milan have opened talks to sign Chukwuemeka from Chelsea, according to Di Marzio, and they're attempting to agree a loan with the obligation to buy. The £100,000-per-week midfielder was signed from Aston Villa in a deal worth around £20 million in 2022, going on to make 27 appearances for the club since then.
The 20-year-old, despite not being given much of a chance since his transfer from the Midlands, has been praised for his quality – with Paul Merson even tipping him to be an "absolute star".
"He will be an absolute star," said Merson on Chukwuemeka during his time at Villa Park.
"He glides across the pitch. He is a nice size. He gets on the ball. He looks for it and makes runs without the ball. I think Villa fans going away will definitely be talking about him.”
