Todd Boehly's plan to revamp Chelsea with Graham Potter could be hampered by the inability to offload Romelu Lukaku due to his recent injury woes, per the Athletic.
In 2021, Chelsea spent £97.5 million to bring the big Belgian from Inter Milan and placed him on an eye-watering £340,000-a-week contract. However, Lukaku failed to repay that faith in his first season. Boehly's first big decision as Chelsea co-owner was to sanction Lukaku's loan move to Inter Milan.
The loan made business sense, allowing Chelsea to take their highest earner off their hands. Inter had agreed to cover Lukaku's full salary - which had taken a considerable cut. The Nerazzurri also hinted at taking Lukaku for a further one-year loan but that depended on how Lukaku fared in his loan spell.
We already know Lukaku isn't doing so well on loan at Inter. Data from Transfermarkt shows he has missed more days (110) due to injury since he moved to Milan last June than he has in the previous three years. Inter's medical staff are said to be alarmed by Lukaku's lack of fitness,
With three more years left to run in Lukaku's hefty Chelsea contract, it is likely that Inter will return him to Chelsea at the end of the season if his situation doesn't improve.
Thus, Boehly would be unable to sign more marque players on high salaries as he did with Raheem Sterling and Aubameyang last summer. Offering bumper fresh terms to key players like Mason Mount and N'Golo Kante may also be a big problem.
