Chelsea once again broke the bank in the transfer market, signing Romelu Lukaku for a club-record fee of £98 million ($136m) from Italian champions Inter Milan. The London side won the Champions League last term and were in search of a new ‘number 9’ heading into the new footballing season as the Thomas Tuchel outfit once again looks to compete on multiple fronts following the UEFA Super Cup triumph.

Chelsea will begin their Premier League 2021-22 campaign against Crystal Palace on August 14 (Saturday) at Stamford Bridge and many Blues faithful will be hoping that they can see their new star man in action. However, it will not be the case as Romelu Lukaku joins the first team for training next week after signing earlier this week. Romelu Lukaku Returns to Chelsea After Completing Transfer From Inter Milan.

The Belgian superstar, who will begin his second spell at Chelsea, is currently in quarantine and will begin training with the Blues on Monday in preparation for next Sunday's match against Mikel Arteta's Arsenal, who lost to newly-promoted Brentford in their season opener.

'Romelu is still in quarantine and following the protocols' Thomas Tuchel told reporters. 'He will be out on Monday doing the whole training with us next week and will play for us against Arsenal. This is the plan,' the Chelsea boss added.

‘We always try to do it as fast as possible and the sooner the better. As I said, if we could have wished for something, he would have been maybe on the pitch and available for even Wednesday. But the sooner the better, because every game counts and we are happy.’ The German manager added further.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 14, 2021 06:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).