Chelsea have made signing a prolific striker one of their priorities for the summer and as we have consistently reported, Victor Osimhen has always been their top target.
The Napoli star scored a fantastic 26 goals in 32 Serie A appearances last season, firing his team to their first league title since 1991. He has continued that form this term, netting 14 in 22 league matches.
This has caught the attention of some of the biggest European clubs. Paris Saint-Germain are thought to be going head-to-head with Chelsea for Osimhen’s signature.
He won’t be a cheap addition, however, given he has a release clause of roughly £113m in his contract that Napoli are demanding in full.
This is a problem for Chelsea, as they’ll likely have to sell several players before sanctioning any more big-money additions.
The Blues’ board are looking for buyers for homegrown stars such as Trevoh Chalobah and Armando Broja, while Tottenham target Conor Gallagher could also depart Stamford Bridge.
£113m is still a huge fee to pay for Osimhen, though, and a fresh report has suggested that Chelsea are looking at ways to drive the price down.
According to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Chelsea have offered Romelu Lukaku – who is currently thriving on loan with Roma – and one ‘unnamed young player’ plus cash for Osimhen.
The Blues have now ‘made contact’ with Napoli and have informed them that they’d be willing to exchange the two players plus €80-90 million for the Nigerian international.
Napoli’s response to Chelsea’s ‘offer’ is yet to be revealed but they’ll likely wait for Osimhen’s other suitor PSG to make a concrete bid too.
Sources have informed TEAMtalk that Osimhen ‘loves’ Chelsea after idolising legendary African striker Didier Drogba during his time at Stamford Bridge.
Drogba has spoken with the Napoli star in an attempt to convince him to join Chelsea, and so too has John Obi-Mikel.
We understand that Chelsea will do everything they can to sign Osimhen this summer and are willing to offload several players to secure a deal.
Whether or not Napoli would be willing to accept Lukaku, an ‘unnamed young player’ and €90m (approx. £77.3m) for Osimhen remains to be seen.
Di Marzio does note, though, that the Italian club’s prospective sporting director Giovanni Manna is a huge fan of Lukaku and would love to bring him to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.