Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has responded to claims that Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku is on the verge of returning to his boyhood club.
The Blues have had two bids rejected by the player's club with a third set to be accepted.
Following the conclusion of Chelsea's clash with Spurs on Wednesday, the Blues’ boss was quizzed on the prospect of the 28-year-old striker arriving at Stamford Bridge following the departure of Olivier Giroud to AC Milan.
Tuchel said: “I will not talk about players who don't play in my squad. He's a fantastic player but he's an Inter player and I will not talk about him in this situation.
“Not everybody but I can imagine a lot of players want to come and join [Chelsea] but we don't comment on that! I think with the exit of Olivier Giroud, we could use a player used to play with their back to goal, whose strength is to keep possession from long balls so we can add this direct style of play to our portfolio.
“This is the characteristic of player that is not Tammy [Abraham], Timo [Werner] or Kai [Havertz] so this is a profile we don't have in the squad and could be useful,” he added.
“But not for any cost and not hectic or in panic as no matter what happens, we will be competitive and have trust in our guys that we can still develop and that we have young players in the offensive part of the game who we demand that they need to improve.
“We are relaxed and very well aware of our situation at the same time.”
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Lukaku’s return to Stamford Bridge is expected to cost Chelsea more than $150M and will reportedly pen a five-year contract.
This article was most recently revised and updated 3 years ago
