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Chelsea were heavily linked with a move to re-sign striker Romelu Lukaku
However he is close to joining Manchester United in a deal worth £75million
The Blues will now turn their attention to signing Real Madrid's Alvaro Morata
They face a tricky situtation with leading forward Diego Costa seeking to leave

Published: 11:09 EDT, 6 July 2017 | Updated: 14:21 EDT, 6 July 2017

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Chelsea have been left reeling by the news Manchester United have agreed a £75million fee with Everton for their long-term target Romelu Lukaku.

Re-signing Lukaku has been top of Chelsea's priority list all summer and personal terms with the Belgian were already agreed.

But the Blues failed to come to a deal with Everton, who are reluctant to do business with the London club since the John Stones saga two years ago.

Romelu Lukaku is close to joining Manchester United in a transfer from Everton worth £75m

Lukaku looks set to be reunited with former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford

Instead Manchester United have swooped to reunite Lukaku with Jose Mourinho, who pushed him out of the Stamford Bridge exit door in 2013.

It leaves Chelsea looking to pick back up their interest in Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata, who seemed destined to be in a United shirt until the turnaround in Lukaku's future.

United have now ended their pursuit of Morata.

Torino's Andrea Belotti has also long been on Chelsea's list, and is a particular favourite of boss Antonio Conte.

Chelsea manager Conte has missed out on his top striker target in the transfer window

The Blues will now look at Alvaro Morata, who had previously been linked with United

Chelsea's current top striker, Diego Costa, has seemingly been certain to leave Stamford Bridge since Conte texted him to inform the striker he didn't feature in his plans for the new season.

The club could now be enforced into an embarassing climb-down with last season's top scorer, faced with not being able to secure their top targets.

Costa is still determined to leave Chelsea, but his preferred destination, Atletico Madrid, cannot register new players until January and are unwilling to pay more than £20million - some way short of Chelsea's valuation.