What seemed like an obvious solution took a long time to emerge. Chelsea had long chased Victor Osimhen, whom they would have recruited in the summer of 2023 after his amazing season with Napoli (Italian champion title and top scorer in Serie A). But president Aurelio de Laurentiis had clearly put barbed wire around his Nigerian striker. However, there was little doubt that the Blues would return to the attack in the following transfer window.
But until now, that was not the case. A few days ago, only Saudi Arabia and PSG seemed keen to lure Osimhen (25 years old) into their nets. Even though the striker had always expressed his attraction to the Premier League. Today, the file takes a new turn, in particular because of the marked interest of Naples in Romelu Lukaku, in the event of Osimhen’s departure.
Finally an agreement between Chelsea and Naples
Chelsea no longer want Lukaku and are demanding almost €40m from Napoli to part with him. Napoli respond that they need to sell Osimhen to free up cash and make a move. So why not combine the two deals? According to The GuardianChelsea’s interest has finally resurfaced for Osimhen, and so much the worse for the accumulation of attackers in the squad. Above all, the London club is only too happy to be able to definitively eliminate Lukaku’s salary from its accounts (a little over €11M per season).
The two clubs have resumed talks, and the big loser could well be PSG, who have tried to finalize a deal with Napoli in recent weeks. But the two entities have never reached an agreement, with Napoli refusing to go below the €105 million mark, while PSG did not exceed €90 million (but was ready to include a player). PSG also needed to sell one of its attackers already at the club to move up a gear. This may no longer be necessary.
