Chelsea are hoping to beat Paris Saint-Germain to the signing of elite striker Victor Osimhen by forging an agreement with Napoli for him before the transfer window reopens, according to reports.
Chelsea can currently rely on Nicolas Jackson up front. While the 22-year-old has improved in recent months and amassed a record of nine goals in 27 games, Mauricio Pochettino is still on the hunt for a top-class centre-forward to join his squad. He needs a reliable No 9 who can take all the chances being created by the likes of Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku.
Pochettino has decided on Napoli star Osimhen as the ideal player to lead his attack. Osimhen netted 26 goals in 32 Serie A matches last season to fire Napoli to a long-awaited league title. While the Nigerian has not quite been as effective this season, he still remains one of the most fearsome strikers in Europe.
However, Chelsea are not alone in wanting to snare Osimhen. French giants Paris Saint-Germain believe the 25-year-old would be a top replacement for Kylian Mbappe, who will most likely end up at Real Madrid this summer.
Reports in Italy have now provided an update on Osimhen’s situation, as cited by Sport Witness. They state that Napoli will engineer a fire sale this summer, with several players to follow Osimhen out of the club.
PSG feel they can convince the goalscorer to return to Ligue 1, where he represented Lille between August 2019 and September 2020. However, Chelsea have overtaken PSG in the transfer chase as Osimhen would rather move to Stamford Bridge.
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The main reason for this is that he wants to emulate Blues hero Didier Drogba, whom he looks up to.
Chelsea have been made aware of Osimhen’s preference through intermediaries and now want to ensure that he ends up in West London. They hope to ‘close the operation quickly’ by striking an agreement with Napoli, which will allow them to begin contract talks with Osimhen.
Chelsea to pay another massive fee for Victor Osimhen
In order to do this, Chelsea will have to match Osimhen’s release clause, which stands at a whopping €130million (£111m).
While Chelsea have already spent huge sums of money since a Todd Boehly-led consortium took control, they could sanction another £100m+ deal for Osimhen by selling academy graduates Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah first.
Osimhen is not the only well-known star Chelsea are hoping to land. According to recent reports, they are also monitoring Jules Kounde’s situation in case Barcelona make him available for transfer.
Chelsea sent a scout to watch both Osimhen and Kounde during the recent clash between Napoli and Barca in the Champions League, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
This is not the first time Chelsea have looked into signing Kounde, as they came close to landing him from Sevilla in summer 2022, only to see Barca hijack the deal.
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