Romelu Lukaku faces the prospect of trying to beat a target already set by Kevin De Bruyne if the striker’s transfer from Inter Milan to Chelsea materialises.
Lukaku has reportedly told the Italian side that he wants to return to Chelsea, the first club of his prolific seven-year spell in England.
The Blues have had two offers for the Belgian turned down this summer, with the latest widely understood to be £85million plus wing-back Marcos Alonso.
Chelsea are trying to sign an elite forward this summer but have so far had their efforts repelled.
Boss Thomas Tuchel wants to sign a striker who guarantees goals after seeing midfielder Jorginho top the club’s scoring chart with only seven last term.
Should Lukaku join, he will need to live up to a target set by Manchester City midfielder De Bruyne.
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Sky Sports reported that Lukaku has asked to leave Inter and told them to facilitate a Chelsea transfer.
Tuchel chose the diplomatic option of not being drawn into speaking about individual players.
“I won’t talk about players who are not in my squad. Romelu Lukaku is a fantastic player but a player from inter and with all due respect I will not talk about him,” Tuchel said after his Chelsea side drew 2-2 in a friendly with Tottenham on Wednesday.
“I will not talk about him in this situation. Not everybody [wants to] but I can imagine a lot of players want to come and join but we don’t comment on that.”
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Quizzed on the type of player he wants to sign during the transfer window, the 47-year-old continued: “With the exit of Olivier Giroud, we could use a player who plays 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.
“It could be useful 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 and that we can still develop.
“We have young players in the offensive part of the game that we demand improve.
“We are relaxed and aware of our situation at the same time. The board isn’t offering players, that’s not how it works.
“We talk to the board about players, have our own opinions, and in the end we target players who in our opinion could make our squad strong, which is quite a challenge.
“There are some players of which we think they can be a good target and improvement in our squad.
“I will not comment on names as I don’t like it when other coaches speak about my players. So hopefully you understand that.”
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