Inter Milan are reportedly eager to retain the services of Romelu Lukaku in the long term, starting with a second successive loan deal in 2023-24.
In August 2021, Inter raised £97.5m from selling Lukaku to Chelsea, only for the forward to endure a less-than-satisfactory first year at Stamford Bridge.
Although the Belgium international scored 15 goals from 44 appearances, a controversial interview and failure to adapt to Thomas Tuchel's style of play led to the Blues being happy to facilitate a loan return to San Siro.
However, things have also not gone well back in Italy, with the 29-year-old spending much of the campaign on the sidelines due to injury.
That led to Lukaku having to miss Belgium's first game at the ongoing World Cup and doubts remain over whether he will return before the knockout stages.
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With just 251 minutes under his belt for Inter this season, the Serie A giants will naturally be eager for a better return for their loan fee when domestic action resumes at the turn of the year.
Nevertheless, according to journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, the Inter hierarchy have already settled on pushing through a second temporary deal in the summer.
Speaking to L'Originale, Di Marzio claims that a loan transfer is "very probable", with Inter then eyeing a permanent agreement in 2024.
The report comes on the same week that it was claimed that Chelsea co-owner and chairman Todd Boehly would prefer to sell Lukaku at the end of this season.
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Chelsea are said to have recalculated their books and do not see the value in immediately allowing Lukaku to remain at Inter for a fee in the region of £6.7m, even if they would continue to save on wages.
There will be an acceptance at Chelsea that they will be unable to recoup anywhere close to the club-record fee that they shelled out just 15 months ago.
Nevertheless, should Lukaku spend another year at Inter on a temporary basis, he will have just two years remaining on his contract at Chelsea upon his return to Stamford Bridge.
Lukaku would also be 31 years of age, lowering the chances of any of European football's biggest clubs being prepared to pay a significant transfer fee for his services.
Darren Plant
