Reports in England say that Juventus has checked in on Romelu Lukaku

The question of what Juventus might do if the very distinct possibility of Dusan Vlahovic being sold this summer has been one that has come with plenty of speculation. The potential Vlahovic replacements in the wake of Cristiano Giuntoli being hired as the guy to lead Juventus’ roster construction into the future has already been discussed here simply because they were reported Napoli targets when he was still employed in southern Italy.

Well, there is a new twist in the potential No. 9 story of the summer even though Juve’s current No. 9 has not been sold yet.

It involves somebody us Juve supporters have grown quite familiar with over these last few years and somebody who was actually linked with a move to Turin when potentially selling Paulo Dybala was legitimately on the table four years ago. Juventus’ interest in Romelu Lukaku seemed genuine then and it appears to be back in the mix now, according to reports from Sky Sports in England and The Athletic ($). It comes in the wake of Inter seeing their latest offer to try and keep Lukaku at the club rejected by Chelsea — a club that could very well end up being a potential landing spot for Vlahovic this summer.

Sky says that Juve and Chelsea have held talks regarding a potential move for Lukaku but doesn’t get into much detail about if they’ve progressed in any kind of fashion or what a potential deal might look like.

According to The Athletic, Chelsea are not budging from their €45 million price tag during talks with Inter regarding Lukaku, who spent last season on loan at San Siro after his big-money move back to the Premier League in the summer 2021.

Obviously, a move for Lukaku now compared to when he was in his mid-20s four years ago amidst the Dybala talks would be an interesting choice. It was, however, a different manager and a very different financial time for Juventus when Lukaku reportedly agreed to personal terms worth a contract involving a €9 million salary.

Things, as we know, reportedly fell apart mostly because Dybala was not able to come to terms on a deal with Manchester United and stayed with Juventus before leaving on a free transfer three years later.

Who knows just how much talks with Chelsea progressed recently considering the fact that they are very much in the market for a new No. 9 and unloading Lukaku would probably allow them to sign somebody like, say, Vlahovic this summer. And judging by Juve’s current financial situation, Lukaku would have to either take a big pay cut or see Chelsea pick up a good chunk of his wages to even make a potential move to Turin possible.

So maybe Juve are legitimately interested in the 30-year-old Lukaku, who had a very roller coaster-like 2022-23 season at Inter. Sounds a lot like the 2022-23 season that Vlahovic had except for the fact that he is seven years younger and playing in a much more conservative 3-5-2 kind of setup.