Mino Raiola has played a key part in Manchester United’s bid to snatch Romelu Lukaku from under the noses of Chelsea.

United surprisingly moved into pole position to sign Lukaku for £75million from Everton after receiving a tip off from the Belgian’s agent Raiola at the start of the week that an agreement may be possible.

Chelsea had been expecting to take Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge this summer, but progress regarding negotiations with Everton and Raiola had been slow.

United’s close relationship with Raiola seems to have been vital in Jose Mourinho’s bold move to hijack Chelsea’s interest in their former player.

Lukaku had made it clear he favoured a return to Chelsea over moving to United this summer, but it seems he has been convinced that Old Trafford represents a good option.

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Chelsea’s only faint hope of resurrecting their own bid for Lukaku rests on whether or not the player is willing to veto his move to United in favour of holding out for his old employers.

But such a decision is unlikely and would be incredibly risky on Lukaku’s part, and United expect to conclude a deal before the club leave for their US tour on Sunday.

Raiola took three of his clients – Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – to Old Trafford last summer and also represents goalkeeper Sergio Romero.

It was reported in May that Raiola stands to earn £41m from Pogba’s world record £89m move from Juventus and the Dutch-Italian dealmaker will earn another handsome payday from the Lukaku deal.

Failure to land Lukaku could put renewed pressure on Antonio Conte’s relationship with the Chelsea board.

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Head coach Conte invested a lot of time and energy into Chelsea’s interest in Lukaku, with one source claiming the Italian, who is due back at work on Sunday, will be “fuming” if it all goes to waste.

The timing of United confirming their move for Lukaku coincided with that of Diego Costa starting to say his farewells to his Chelsea team-mates ahead of a potential return to Atletico Madrid.

Conte’s decision to tell Costa that he is not part of his plans by text message looks increasingly ill-advised and has put Chelsea in a difficult position.

Other than weakening their negotiating position with Atletico set to launch their bid to re-sign Costa, the text has also made it clear that Chelsea are desperate to recruit a new striker.

Costa has got in touch with a number of his Chelsea team-mates to tell them he expects to return to his former club and is unsure whether he will be back at Chelsea for pre-season training which starts next Monday.

Diego Costa has told his Chelsea team-mates he is leaving credit: PA

Chelsea will only excuse Costa from returning for pre-season if a move to Atletico is agreed or negotiations are advanced, which the 28-year-old clearly hopes is the case.

The most obvious move for Chelsea to make would be to renew their interest in Alvaro Morata, who the club failed to land last summer.

Conte had made the decision to go for Lukaku over Morata this time around, but the Spaniard has seemingly been left in the lurch by United as he looks to leave Real Madrid.

Real are not prepared to drop their £70m asking price for Morata, which United had got close to meeting, but that still makes the 24-year-old a cheaper alternative than Lukaku.

Morata had agreed to join United in principle, but would also be open to a move to Chelsea having previously told friends that he thought he would one day play for Conte at Stamford Bridge.

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Chelsea have also shown an interest in Alexis Sanchez, but Arsenal have insisted they will not sell the Chile forward to a Premier League rival. Torino’s Andrea Belotti is another option.

Conte is a fan of Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke, although it is thought the Italian’s interest would be to sign the 26-year-old as support to somebody with greater pedigree,

Having become exasperated with the speed at which Chelsea were conducting their transfer business, Conte spoke with director Marina Granovskaia and owner Roman Abramovich, and was satisfied that progress was being made.

With deals close to completion for central defender Antonio Rudiger and midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, and Chelsea in talks with Juventus over left-back Alex Sandro, the Premier League champions looked well placed in the transfer market.

Chelsea have offered Conte a new contract that would make him the highest-paid manager in the club’s history on £9.6m-a-year, which he was due to sign when he returned from holiday.

That may still prove to be the case, but Conte will need to be satisfied that Chelsea will start the new season with a first-choice striker he is happy with.