Juventus: Inside Lukaku’s transfer controversy

Inter are furious following reports that Juventus started negotiating with Romelu Lukaku back in March, but the Old Lady deny breaking any rules, La Gazzetta dello Sport details.

Page four of today’s Gazzetta underlines how talks were allegedly opened between the Bianconeri and the Belgian’s lawyer Sebastian Ledure back in March and two days after the Champions League final in June, the player reportedly agreed to the terms of a contract.

Inter are deeply angry with the situation and are ready to fight their case, concerned that Juventus may have ‘tapped up’ Lukaku – essentially contacting him without first receiving the proper authorization from his club, something that is against FIFA regulations.

The Nerazzurri are also concerned that these talks with Juventus may have impacted Lukaku’s performance in the Champions League final, where he had a match to forget against Manchester City.

Juventus deny these reports and claim that they didn’t open talks with Lukaku until July, after he’d returned to Chelsea. Their suggestion is that they only called the Belgian striker after obtaining permission from the Blues, following their conversations involving Dusan Vlahovic.

The Old Lady are still negotiating a possible swap deal with Chelsea and this week could be the decisive one to see Lukaku make the jump to Turin.