Romelu Lukaku has completed the main part of his Chelsea medical in Milan after the Premier League club agreed to pay Internazionale €115m (£97.5m) to re-sign the striker.
Lukaku flew by private jet to London on Monday evening to complete a move which will bring to about £285m 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 £100m 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 Martínez, for whom Tottenham have offered €70m.
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.