Chelsea funded Lukaku move by selling four academy graduates: where are they now?

Last summer, Chelsea spent €113million to bring back Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan where he's had the time of his life, scoring 64 goals in two years.

That was the club-record signing - but the Blues were well within their means to make it, especially after they made some big sales.

It was an especially sad summer for the Chelsea Academy watchers as four big talents were sold for a combined fee of €98million, just €15m short of Lukaku's valuation.

A year later, their fortunes could not have been more different from that of Lukaku who is pining for a move back to Inter.

Here's a look at what the former Blues have been up to.

Tammy Abraham (€40m). The striker Tuchel did not fancy was just what Jose Mourinho needed at AS Roma. The 24-year-old ended up scoring 27 goals in all competitions, winning the first Europa Conference League edition and returning to the England squad.

Fikayo Tomori (€28.8m). The centre-back made his move to AC Milan permanent and became a pivotal figure in the side that won the Serie A for the first time in 11 years. He also returned to the Three Lions' set-up and is strongly in contention to feature at the World Cup at the end of the year.

Marc Guehi (€23.34m). The 21-year-old had not even made a Premier League appearance before going to Crystal Palace - but became a mainstay there, playing in 36 games in the top flight. He made his England debut in March.

Tino Livramento (€5.9m). Like Guehi, the 19-year-old became a regular starter at the Premier League level in his first season away from Chelsea. The right-back made 28 league appearances for Southampton, scoring once.

Although he's not an academy graduate, Kurt Zouma's €35m sell to West Ham should not be forgotten as it meant that Chelsea even made a profit in the transfer market in 2021. Zouma also became a regular starter at his new club - even though he made the headlines for something completely different.

Of course, there are no guarantees that these players would've gone on to do something similar had they stayed at Chelsea.

Still, you can easily wonder what would've been if the Blues had all these young stars instead of what looks like one season of Lukaku who scored 15 goals in all competitions.