Romelu Lukaku has been allowed to leave Chelsea on loan to join Italian side Roma. This comes after Lukaku spent last season on loan at Inter Milan and the Belgium international joined Chelsea from Inter for £97.5m in 2021. Roma will cover Lukaku's wages after he agreed to a salary cut for the remaining three years of his Chelsea contract, with the move being a straight loan with a fee dependent on performance-related conditions. A release clause in Lukaku's contract is also thought to be in the region of £38m. Lukaku will be joining former Chelsea head coach Jose Mourinho at Roma, who took the team to the Europa League final last season. Roma officials travelled to London for face-to-face talks with Chelsea over a deal to bring Lukaku to the Italian capital for the season. Lukaku had previously fallen out of favour at Chelsea after a controversial interview in which he expressed his dissatisfaction under former head coach Thomas Tuchel.
