Chelsea are preparing for life after Romelu Lukaku who’s closing in on a loan move to Inter Milan. Chelsea paid a little over £97m to sign the former Everton striker last summer as he returned to the club from Inter Milan for his second spell at Stamford Bridge. Lukakufailed to live up to expectations on his return to Chelsea and he’s on the verge of returning to the San Siro after Inter Milan agreed a loan deal worth €8m for him plus add-ons. Also, the Belgian international agreed to take a pay cut from €12m-per-year at Chelsea to €8m-per-year at Inter Milan for his loan move back to Italian football.

With the imminent exit of Lukaku, Chelsea are ready to replace him with Everton star Richarlison. Also, the Blues have been linked with the attacking duo of Raheem Sterling and Raphinha who plays for Manchester City and Leeds United respectively.

Richarlison is one of the five transfer targetsbeing examined by Chelsea as a potential replacement for Lukaku. It was also revealed that Everton have slammed a £50m asking price on the Brazilian player in the wake of the interest from Chelsea. The two-time European champions have to contend with Tottenham Hotspur for the former Watford and Fluminense attacker. The other attackers on the Chelsea shortlist to replace Lukaku are Victor Osimhen (Napoli), Gianluca Scamacca (Sassuolo), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) and Jonathan David (Lille).

Spurs boss Antonio Conte is keen to addan attacker to his squad to ease the workload on Harry Kane and Richarlison has been identified as the man for the job.

Everton attacker Richarlison scored one of the goals as Brazil navigated a tough game at Uruguay with relative ease. It was the standout game on Matchday 4 of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the South American section. Brazil beat Uruguay 2-0 away from home to continue their perfect start to the qualifiers.

The five-time world champions took the lead on 34 minutes through new Juventus midfielder Arthur before Richarlison added a second goal on the stroke of half-time. Any hopes of a comeback from the home team in the second half was extinguished when Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani was sent off with 19 minutes left on the clock with the help of VAR.

The Brazilians had started their qualifying campaign with wins over Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela before the tough test in Montevideo against the Uruguayans. It was potentially a difficult game for Uruguay, but they made light work of the task to get the three points at stake. The win was more remarkable because it was without star player Neymar who failed to recover in time for the match.

Paris Saint Germain (PSG) attacker Neymar has been injured since theChampions League victory at the home of Istanbul Basaksehir FC of Turkey. He was given an intense physiotherapy to work with upon reporting to the Brazilian national team camp,but it was not enough to get him fit for the Venezuela, Uruguay qualifiers.

In his absence, Richarlison rose to the challenge to ensure that Brazil stayed ahead of archrivals Argentina on the South American table. Everton would be hoping that the Brazil player continues the good form in front of goal ahead of the Fulham game this weekend.

Richarlison will return to the Everton team for the match scheduled for Craven Cottage.His return will be a massive boost for the Toffees who have not won a game since his dismissal in the Merseyside Derby last month.

Speaking exclusively to The Liverpool ECHO, Richarlison acknowledged that he is aware of the speculation linking the attacker with a potential move to the Premier League. He added that he has spoken about the prospect of playing together with the Toffees after having already done so at the international level.

He said: “Yeah, I read something about that. I’ve spoken to him about it already. I told him the doors are open for him there, and that he could help us a lot. I hope he comes. He’d be very welcome there. I’ve known him since we played together for Brazil’s U20 side, and he’s a guy I get along with really well. Hopefully I’ll see him there.”

Neres has been attracting interest from the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League and the former of those clubs should offer him with the assurance of regular gametime. Nonetheless, there are question marks whether the Gunners would be able to afford him due to their restricted transfer budget and that could offer the Toffees with the edge.

The Merseyside outfit have shown a clear vision over the past few seasons where they have not been afraid to spend and they could be willing to match the £40m valuation which could lure Neres to Goodison Park. The Toffees have plenty of ammunition for the flanks but with Neres, they should have another goalscoring threat from the flanks. Both Richarlison and Neres started from the off during Brazil’s 3-0 triumph over Bolivia during the Copa America opener.

In a report covered by TalkSPORT, Cascarino highlighted that the Toffees have lacked the leadership in their ranks barring Seamus Coleman and this has hampered them despite the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Richarlison impressing in the attack front, he said: “Everton have been a bit of an enigma. Watching them last week at Millwall I thought they were disappointing. You talk about leadership in the team, they didn’t look like they had any of that apart from Seamus Coleman. I just don’t know why Everton have not been better because they’ve got some – Richarlison is a handful. Sigurdsson is another player who can create a moment – just haven’t done it enough.”

Everton were at one stage occupying the seventh position in the standings after gathering a winning run but they have since dropped off one place amid the inconsistent form. The Merseyside outfit are currently eighth on the standings with 33 points but they have the opportunity to jump back to the seventh spot, should they get the better of Wolverhampton Wanderers this weekend.

Nonetheless, the challenge won’t be easy, given the Wolves have been building up momentum of late and they have an in-form striker in Raul Jimenez leading their ranks. Meanwhile, the Toffees are currently facing a potential crisis in the left-back position and it remains to be seen who could feature, should Leighton Baines miss out. The veteran is currently doubtful with a rib problem while Lucas Digne remains out of contention after a straight red card against Huddersfield in midweek.

Amidst this, he has already become a regular with the Brazilian national team and speaking to the club’s official website, Yakubu has backed the young marksman to reach to the top, the loved Nigerian said: “Richarlison is smart and clever. I have watched him since he was at Watford. If he continues to do what he is doing, you will see the improvement. He is going to be a top striker. I think he can be right up there in the goal scoring charts.”

Richarlison first made his Premier League bow with the Hornets last term after making the switch from Fluminense and contributed five goals within the opening few months. However, he could not sustain the form thereafter and he ended the backend of the campaign without adding an assist or a goal.

As such, his £35m move to Everton had raised question marks whether he could show the consistency but that has certainly been the case this season with eight goals already in the Premier League. Meanwhile, he has also made a strong impression with the Brazilian national side since making his debut in September and he has already notched three goals from six appearances including the recent winner during the friendly triumph over Cameroon.

Over the past few months, Richarlison has regularly been played upfront by manager Marco Silva and he could continue to do so when the Toffees entertain Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League this weekend. The Brazilian has netted two times during the previous three league matches for the Toffees.

Speaking to the Spanish publication, he said: “I haven’t got enough fingers to count the number of clubs who rejected me. I was ready to give up football, but I lifted my head and I went to Belo Horizonte with just the money for an outward ticket for the last trial I had, with America MG. If I didn’t make it, I had no money to get home to Espiritu Santo, 600 kilometres away. I gave my all that morning and I passed. If I had given up after the first no I would never have made it where I am today.”

From his time with Minerio, Richarlison went on to spend one season with Fluminense between 2016 and 2017 and his performances were deemed worthy enough to secure a Premier League chance with Watford. At Vicarage Road, the Brazilian produced a mixed bag with all of his five goals coming during the first half of the 2017/18 season but he was nevertheless offered another big challenge with Everton which he could not refuse this summer.

Richarlison has since made his mark with the Toffees with three goals from as many appearances but there remains the issue with his discipline, which he may need to improve on. Despite this, he should be pleased with the progress made on the personal scale and he most recently earned his first two caps with the Brazilian national side – scoring a brace during his debut against El Salvador.

Speaking to TalkSPORT, he said: “Everybody’s seen the drop off since Mario Silva (sic) left Watford, or maybe even before then. I think that he has seen him first-hand and worked with him on a daily basis so he is backing his own judgement. What I would say to be careful about though is, if you say you are buying potential, Everton fans do not want potential. If you’re buying Richarlison now as a future player, that’s not what Everton fans want to see at the moment. They want to see them fighting with the best and up there with the top four.”

Richarlison had attracted interest from the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur prior to making the move to Watford last summer and he made a strong start to the campaign under Silva with five goals before the turn of the year. However, his form dipped thereafter and part of the blame has been put on the Hornets’ decision to dismiss Silva from the head coach role.

Now at Everton, Silva has decided to sanction a deal worth £44m to reunite with Richarlison at Goodison Park and the move should be made official in the coming days with the Brazilian having made his way to Merseyside for the medical. The Toffees have remained relatively quiet with no signings to date but they are expected to go on a late spending spree starting from Richarlison to bolster their top-six prospects next season.