Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and his playmaker, Kevin De Bruyne (KDB) could both be facing Inter Milan striker RomeluLukaku on the opposite side when hostilities begin in the new Premier League next week with rivals Chelsea keen to land the expert goalscorer for a fee believed to be around £100m this summer.
Chelsea are determined to re-sign Lukaku this summer and they have already had two bids rejected by Inter Milan. Widespread reports claimed that a third bid of £100m would be enough to seal the transfer. The Blues are keen on avoiding the repeat of the 2017 summer transfer window when they tried and failed to seal a return to Stamford Bridge for Lukaku. Chelsea missed out on him to Manchester United in a £75m deal and the West London giants had to settle for Spanish striker Alvaro Morata. It’s safe to say that the two transfers didn’t work.
Lukaku joined Chelsea as a teenager and he was a registered player at the club until his loan move to Premier League rivals Everton became permanent in 2014 for £28m.
Kevin De Bruyne described Lukaku as one of the best strikers in world football when he was interviewed by the Daily Mail on their friendship at the Euro 2020 tournament. De Bruyne and Lukaku were in the Belgium squad that was knocked out by eventual winners Italy in the last eight at Euro 2020. The Belgians were beaten 2-1 by Italy who went on to see off Spain and England to win their second Euro title.
Manchester City boss Guardiola shares the same sentiment with Kevin De Bruyne on Lukaku. Guardiola confessed that Lukaku is a quality striker when he was interviewed in 2018 immediately after the 3-2 defeat to Manchester United in the derby while Jose Mourinho was still the Red Devils boss.