Romelu Lukaku is set to join Inter Milan on Thursday, after flying to Italy to seal his transfer from Manchester United.
Lukaku has been AWOL since Monday, using the training facilities of his former club Anderlecht.
Belgium’s all-time record goalscorer has been in his homeland, staying away from United in the hope of forcing through a move, after falling out of favour with boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
On Wednesday evening, United chiefs were offered an initial fee of £64.7million, with add-ons and performance-related clauses potentially taking the total figure to £75m, by the Nerazzurri for Lukaku.
That came after his agent, Federico Pastorello, flew to London on Wednesday in an attempt to resolve his future.
And later that evening, Pastorello posted a photo on Instagram of himself and Lukaku on board a private jet flying from Brussels, with the caption: “Ready to take off. Direction Milano.”
United want a deal for Lukaku done as swiftly as possible, aware that they are in a race against time to land a replacement.
Lukaku is expected to sign a five-year contract and the 26-year-old could make his debut for Antonio Conte’s side when they take on Valencia in a friendly on Saturday.
At one point it had looked as though Lukaku could be heading to another Serie A club, with champions Juventus offering Paulo Dybala to United in a swap deal for the Belgian.
But after United were unable to agree terms with Dybala the move broke down, and Inter returned as the front-runners for the signature.
Lukaku will leave the Premier League as the joint-19th all-time top goalscorer, drawing with ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright on 113 goals during his time at Everton and United.
He scored 15 goals in 45 appearances in all competitions last season, but expressed his desire to play in Italy towards the end of the campaign.
With Marcus Rashford and the emerging Mason Greenwood at the club,Solskjaer clearly felt the time was right to allow Lukaku to move on to pastures new.
Source: The Mirror
