Everton stand firm as Chelsea launch British record bid for Lukaku

Chelsea have made a British record £65million bid for Everton striker Romelu Lukaku, according to widespread reports on Wednesday.
However, Everton, who bought the Belgian striker from Chelsea in July 2014 for £28m, are determined to resist the offer in a bid to obtain their reported £75million asking price.
Sold by Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte reportedly told Chelsea weeks ago that Lukaku was his No. 1 transfer target to lead the line, although the Italian refused to discuss his interest in the Belgian striker when questioned over the weekend.
Quite what that does for Diego Costa’s Chelsea future is unclear, with Michy Batshuayi already signed.
Almost every one of Wednesday’s papers has the story, but The Sun use an Everton ‘source’ to bring us their thoughts on the move: “The club have made a very generous offer – it breaks the British and club record – and is more than double what Everton paid for Romelu.
“Last summer the John Stones negotiations became a bit of a saga and Chelsea want to avoid that so pretty much have told Everton they want to get this all wrapped up by the weekend.”
Various other reports suggest Chelsea could try to appease Everton by also offering Loic Remy on top of the £65million bid, which would break the British transfer record which currently – assuming Paul Pogba’s move to Man Utd doesn’t go through first – stands at the £59.1million for Angel Di Maria.