Manchester United has announced that the club has agreed to a fee with Everton for the permanent transfer for Romelu Lukaku, confirming reports that surfaced just a few days ago.
The Red Devils posted on Twitter that the club has come to an agreement with Everton, and that personal terms and a medical are all that stand in the way of the Belgian frontman moving to Old Trafford.
The remaining are expected to be completed in the next two days, with Lukaku already in California where United is set to begin preseason training.
According to a number of reports in England, including from the Manchester Evening News, Lukaku will have his medical today and will be ready to train with the team on Monday at UCLA.
The Belgian has been training with close friend and Manchester United player, Paul Pogba, in recent days, with both posting pictures and videos on social media of the two together.
Reports, including one from ESPN, say that Lukaku will cost Manchester United $96 million, which is reportedly less than what Real Madrid was asking for Alvaro Morata. The Spaniard had been linked with Manchester United for months, while it had been expected that Lukaku would move back to Chelsea. However, with Madrid’s asking price for Morata so high – despite a reported meeting between player, agent, and Madrid president Florentino Perez to discuss – Manchester United opted out for other options.
There was reportedly a last-ditch effort by Chelsea to sway Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge, having lodged a bid themselves at the last possible moment, but it appears that effort was too late. It’s also likely that Manchester United’s confirmation of an accepted bid prior to the completion of a medical is partly due to these late Chelsea efforts.
In an interesting bit of timing, TMZ reported Saturday morning that a week ago, Lukaku was given a citation by the Beverly Hills Police Department for a noise complaint during a massive house party. According to the report, Lukaku was renting a house in Beverly Hills and was approached by the police six different times during the day before finally gave him a citation for disturbing the peace.