According to journalist Dean Jones, Chelsea are working on a move for Inter Milan's Romelu Lukaku and Roman Abramovich is a huge admirer of the centre-forward.
What’s the latest transfer news involving Lukaku?
Jones claims that Abramovich is a huge admirer of Lukaku and suggests that Chelsea would be happy to sign the 28-year-old if they can't get Erling Haaland this summer, but a deal would not be straight forward.
Speaking on The Football Terrace, Jones said, “Abramovich is also a huge admirer of Lukaku, they’d be perfectly happy if Haaland wasn’t to come to sign Lukaku. That’s also going to be really difficult, I’m not saying that it’s going to be straight forward.
"But that is on the backburner, it’s being worked on in the background."
To hear what Dean Jones said in full about Lukaku, check out the video below...
How did Lukaku perform at Chelsea previously?
The 6 ft 3 striker barely played for Chelsea during his time at Stamford Bridge having made just one Premier League start for the Blues. However, he had several successful loan spells with West Brom and Everton.
In the 2012/13 league campaign, Lukaku netted 17 goals in 20 starts for the Baggies and he registered a further four assists.
In the 28-year-old's initial loan stint at Everton he notched 15 goals and impressed so much that the Toffee's made the deal permanent in the 2014/15 season for a reported £28m - ending his three-year stay with Chelsea.
How many goals did Lukaku score for Inter last season?
Lukaku scored the second most goals in Serie A last season with 24 to his name - a record only bettered by Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo in Italy's top flight.
According to WhoScored, the 28-year-old was the best performer for Inter in the 2020/21 league campaign with a rating of 7.47 - the website also handed Lukaku more Man of the Match awards that any other player in the squad.
Whilst Lukaku is known for his clinical nature in front of goal, he also registered eleven assists in Italy's top flight last term and made 1.4 key passes per game.
Is Lukaku exactly what Chelsea need next season?
Arguably yes.
Last summer's signing Timo Werner most frequently led the line for Chelsea last season and he scored just six Premier League goals.
Despite the Blues' Champions League triumph in the 2020/21 campaign, Abramovich should look to sign a clinical striker to enable them to compete with Manchester City for the league title.
Lukaku is exactly that and as he has already shown that he is capable of performing in England's top flight, the Belgian would be a strong addition to Chelsea's attacking ranks next season.