The transfer invasion from Saudi Arabia helped Lukaku end up at Roma

A real transfer saga took shape around Romelu Lukaku before the Belgian international signed for Roma. His agent Sebastien Ledur explained how the striker's move to the club from the Eternal City came about. "Negotiating a lease at the beginning of the summer was very difficult, almost impossible. Chelsea insisted on a final decision and wanted to sell Lukaku. The big changes came after the emergence of the transfer market of clubs from Saudi Arabia.

They raised the bar so high in terms of the sums on offer that it became extremely difficult for European clubs and Chelsea in particular to compete with them. So on the one hand we had Chelsea's desire to sell Lukaku for the highest possible amount, but only the Saudis were willing to pay that kind of money. However, the football player himself wanted to stay in Europe and participate in the European tournaments", Ledur explained. The rental of the 30-year-old Lukaku will cost Roma just under 6 million euros. There is no buyout option in the contract between the two clubs. The Belgian striker will receive 7.5 million euros until the end of the season.