Romelu Lukaku has already admitted that he wants to stay at Inter Milan beyond his loan, so Chelsea have begun looking for strikers in the transfer market

Romelu Lukaku's confirmation that he wants to stay at Inter Milan has led Chelsea to look to be contemplating a bid for Victor Osimhen. The Belgian international has a three-year deal to honor at Stamford Bridge when he returns from his loan in the summer, but a transfer looks more and more plausible.

Lukaku, who paid the Blues £97.5 million to acquire him in 2021, has made 22 appearances for Inter Milan in Serie A this year and has directly assisted 13 goals. Although the 29-year-old originally had trouble getting going, he has recently impressed and appeared to be in line for a second chance to prove himself in west London.

However, a third chance at Chelsea doesn't appear to be in the cards, therefore the next manager of the club, Mauricio Pochettino, will be without a top-tier striker. Lukaku talked about his future last month after Inter defeated Empoli.

“I have an excellent relationship with the fans and I’ve always tried to give everything for Inter because it gave me the opportunity to win two years ago," said the Belgian. "This club has allowed me to become who I am today."

Then, when asked if he wanted to stay at Inter, Lukaku replied: "Yes, but guys you have to pay attention to those things. My goal is to give my best for Inter."

Speaking on BT Sport last month, Rio Ferdinand insisted that the west Londoners must sign a new striker after they struggled to beat Thibaut Courtois when they played real Madrid in the Champions League, despite plenty of opportunities. The former Manchester United defender said: "They don’t score enough goals, that’s obvious.

"That team that started the game had 17 goals between them for the season – [Karim] Benzema outscored that completely on his own, so that tells you where they’re at. Today in the first half they created chances, they had arguably the best chances in the first half, but they just didn’t have anyone to put the ball in the net and that’s been an issue.

"Recruitment in the summer is going to be massive for this football club - as much as they want to get players, to get people out. They’ve got to get players out to make sure there’s room to bring players in."

According to Sky Sports Germany, Chelsea are joined by Manchester City, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain in the race to sign Osimhen, with various talks already having taken place. It's said that the Premier League champions have enquired about Osimhen, despite having welcomed Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez to the Etihad Stadium in the summer.