Romelu Lukaku has completed the main part of his Chelsea medical in Milan after the Premier League club agreed to pay Inter €115mn (£97.5mn) to re-sign the striker.
Lukaku flew by private jet to London yesterday evening to complete a move which will bring to about £285mn the transfer fees – excluding for loans – spent on the Belgium international over his career.
The amount to be paid by Chelsea falls just shy of the Premier League record £100mn spent by Manchester City to buy Jack Grealish from Aston Villa.
Thomas Tuchel has made a striker his priority and Chelsea moved for Lukaku after concluding that targets such as Erling Haaland and Harry Kane were out of reach. Lukaku said in June that he would be staying at Inter after winning Serie A but told the club last week that he wanted to rejoin Chelsea. He is expected to earn about £250,000 a week there. Inter have been under pressure to raise funds because of their financial situation but had intended to hold on to Lukaku. His impending move means they plan to keep Lautaro Martinez, for whom Tottenham have offered €70mn. Lukaku is well acquainted with the Premier League having joined Chelsea from Anderlecht in 2011 and also played for West Brom, Everton and Manchester United.

Kane quarantining at Spurs’ training complex, says Nuno
Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has reported back to the club and is isolating at its training complex while fulfilling quarantine requirements following his holiday in the Bahamas and Florida, manager Nuno Espirito Santo said on Sunday.
Kane, 28, did not show up for pre-season training last week but maintained he “never refused” to train amid reports that he was trying to force a move to Premier League champions Manchester City. Nuno said that he has not yet spoken to the club’s captain, who will train alone until Thursday in order to comply with protocols enforced to reduce the risk of coronavirus infections.
“Harry is with us. He has to quarantine. He is in The Lodge but he is training,” Nuno said, referring to the luxury residential facility for players at the training complex. “We expect to integrate Harry when he follows all the protocols that we have to apply. “I will speak with Harry probably as soon as possible... we have a training session tomorrow and with social distancing hopefully I will speak with Harry.”
Nuno made the comments following Tottenham’s 1-0 pre-season friendly win over north London rivals Arsenal. On Friday, City boss Pep Guardiola confirmed that the club were still keen to sign the England captain after an initial offer reportedly worth 100mn pounds ($138.66mn) was turned down by the London club in June. Tottenham, who finished seventh in the Premier League last season, will host City on Aug. 15 in the opening game of their 2021-22 campaign.

Sparta head to Monaco making amends for racist chants
Sparta Prague made amends yesterday for racist chants from their fans targeting AS Monaco players during a Champions League game last week as they brace for the second leg trailing 2-0.
Ahead of today’s Champions League third qualifying round return at Monaco, Sparta also said they had identified the culprits and vowed to ban them.
“We are deeply saddened by the incident that occured during the game last week,” Sparta said in a letter to AS Monaco and midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, published on its website. The Frenchman was targeted by monkey chants as he scored the first goal on 37 minutes in Prague last week, and the game was briefly held up before Monaco players decided to play on.
The incident led UEFA to start disciplinary proceedings against Sparta over “discriminatory behaviour, injurious chanting and the throwing of objects at the player”.UEFA has yet to announce its verdict. “Thanks to the CCTV recordings and TV recordings the persons involved in the incident have already been identified by the club, are under the investigation procedure and will be banned from all AC Sparta Prague matches,” Sparta said. “The investigation procedure will be finalised in a short time.”
Sparta also vowed “zero tolerance of any kind of discriminatory behaviour.” Under UEFA rules, no fans of visiting teams will be allowed to attend the third qualifying round games. Last week, the Czech League Football Association slapped a fine on Sparta and threatened to close its stadium following racist chants from Sparta fans targeting French defender Florent Poulolo during a Czech league game.