Chelsea plan to wait until after the World Cup to decide whether they will sell Romelu Lukaku.
Tottenham are just one of a number of clubs, including Everton where he is currently on a season-long loan, who want to buy him in the summer. It is understood that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has doubts over the 20-year-old’s ability to perform at the highest level and may be prepared to let him go to raise transfer funds.
Mourinho had similar concerns over Kevin de Bruyne and Juan Mata and sold them in January for a combined £55million to Wolfsburg and Manchester United respectively and was able to bring in Nemanja Matic, Mohamed Salah and Kurt Zouma.
Lukaku has scored 12 goals for Everton this season and is expected to start up front for Belgium at the World Cup. A strong showing in Brazil will obviously increase his value. He will have just two years left on his contract at Chelsea, who signed him from Anderlecht in a deal worth up to £18m in 2011, at the end of this season.
Chelsea would look for in excess of £20m but Spurs will face a tough battle to convince the hierarchy at Stamford Bridge to sell Lukaku to them, with a move abroad Chelsea’s preferred option.
However, Tottenham are looking to sign a forward for next season and Lukaku is one of the players on their wish-list. They have also been monitoring Standard Liege forward Michy Batshuayi, whose agent Christophe Henrotay is believed to have met chairman Daniel Levy for talks last week. Significantly, Henrotay also represents Lukaku, as well as his younger brother Jordan, a left-back, who Tottenham scouted earlier in the season.
The Lukaku brothers are very close and the acquisition of Jordan, who is currently on loan from Anderlecht at Oostende, would help their cause.
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