Napoli Negotiating Lukaku Deal – Conte’s Impact on Serie A Transfer Market

The Belgian striker has spent the last two seasons on loan at Inter Milan and Roma, but is now ready to take a major pay cut to join former manager Antonio Conte at his new club, Napoli.

It means Lukaku is likely to finally seal a permanent move away from Chelsea this summer, three years after his mega-money return to Stamford Bridge which quickly turned into a nightmare deal for club and player.

Chelsea paid £97.5million to re-sign their former striker from Inter Milan in the summer of 2021, after he led the Serie A club to its first league title in a decade – with Conte in charge.

Three years later, Chelsea are ready to make a huge loss on the 31-year-old and willing to accept a cut-price offer of around £29m.

Napoli are currently in talks with the Premier League side over the deal, with Lukaku keen to remain in Italy and link up again with former manager Conte.

Lukaku is likely to replace Victor Osimhen, who has been tipped to sign for Paris Saint-Germain this summer as a replacement for Kylian Mbappe following his free transfer to Real Madrid.

Osimhem has led the line for Napoli with distinction for the last four seasons and scored 31 goals to spearhead Napoli’s Serie A title in 2022/23.

While fans may not be thrilled with landing Lukaku to take his place, it appears they trust Conte enough to back the deal.

That’s according to Italian football expert Daniele Fisichella, who told talkSPORT Napoli supporters are open to the signing of Lukaku as Conte helps the club rebound from a tough last campaign, which saw the team finish tenth in the table one year on from their champions success.

“I think Napoli fans have got faith in Antonio Conte and believe he is the man to take them at least up to the fourth place,” he said.

“And because Conte likes Lukaku so much and he has had him already at Inter for two season, I think the Napoli fans will be just happy to get a Belgian.