AC Milan could offer Romelu Lukaku an exit strategy from his Chelsea nightmare depending on the outcome of their current takeover.
The 28-year-old hasn't scored a league or Champions League goal in 2022 and has increasingly become a problem for Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge.
Having excelled at rivals Inter, Milan feels that there could be an opportunity in allowing Lukaku an escape route but it depends on a lot of circumstances.
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How can Milan finance Lukaku's signing?
Having been signed for £100 million ($136m), with a current book value of £77m ($100m), the cost is unimaginable for Milan's current owners, or indeed, almost any team outside of England's few biggest teams.
On top of that, his £325,000-a-week wages are more than almost any big European team would pay.
However, there is hope that any new owners that arrive in Chelsea over the next week would cut their losses and offer a below-market rate deal to offload a player who isn't working well with the club's manager.
Equally, the Serie A club's owners Elliott Management are in talks with Bahrain-based investment manager Investcorp.
Any deal could go through in the next few weeks, allowing new strategies to be in place for the summer transfer window.
The current U.S.-based owners are unwilling to sanction transfers such as Lukaku, but the Middle East investors could look to add a big signing under the right structure.
Likely, they would still look for value in any deal to sign Lukaku and even ask for a portion of his wages to be continued to be paid by Chelsea.
This season Milan have been lacking in the striker department with Zlatan Ibrahimovic spending more time in the treatment room than on the pitch. Meanwhile, former Blues striker Olivier Giroud has struggled under the weight of keeping his side in the title race with Inter and Napoli.
Lukaku has also been linked with a return to Inter but early indications seem to be that their primary summer target is Sassuolo striker Gianluca Scamacca.
How badly is Lukaku's Chelsea career going?
Alongside that, he has lost the support of fans, getting some boos after being substituted in his last appearance in the 4-2 home defeat to Arsenal.
His unpopularity is due to a combination of his lack of goalscoring form but also due to a controversial unsanctioned interview to Sky Italia which alienated his club's supporters in December.
The striker has been discouraged from giving any more interviews by Tuchel and club staff, citing that reason when asked to speak to the media after his side's win over Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-final.
It is felt that a change of scenery could be necessary to overcome what has increasingly become a toxic situation.