Inter President Steven Zhang has signed off on a deal to sell striker Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea, but the move won’t be made official until a replacement has been lined up.

As reported in today’s newspaper edition of Corriere dello Sport, Lukaku will take a medical within the next 24-48 hours before making a return to the Premier League club in a record €115 million deal.

Zhang has given the green light to the sale from his base in China and the two clubs are currently processing and exchanging paperwork for the transfer, with the move expected to be completed shortly.

However, Inter are delaying making the sale official until they have found Lukaku’s successor, with the Nerazzurri wary of the perception generated by selling their top scorer without anyone else lined up.

This has been made clear to Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia and is the final hurdle holding up the sale of Lukaku.