Manchester City had offered a more lucrative salary to Inter Milan forward Romelu Lukaku than Chelsea, according to Eurosport‘s Dean Jones.

The journalist says that the Citizens were serious about signing the Belgian and “their financial package was better”, but the Blues recently upped their offer for the striker:

Chelsea have been quietly pushing on with Lukaku pursuit over past couple of months. In that time they have improved the terms they are willing to offer and have also left Lukaku in no doubt how much they would like him backhttps://t.co/aEucxvBk3I

— Dean Jones (@DeanJonesSoccer) August 3, 2021

It seems like City have now cooled their interest in Lukaku, with Tottenham’s Harry Kane now thought to be the club’s number one target.

The Manchester side’s attempts to sign the England captain, though, are fraught with difficulty. There is no certainty that an agreement can be reached with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, who is adamant that he doesn’t want to sell to another Premier League team.

If that stance doesn’t change, City will have a decision to make. Do they go back in for Lukaku and try and hijack Chelsea’s move or do they opt against signing a new number nine entirely?