Chelsea blow as Osimhen’s verdict on ‘blockbuster’ swap deal emerges amid ‘agreement’ with PL rivals

According to reports, Napoli forward Victor Osimhen has offered his stance on a move to Chelsea as the Premier League giants discuss a swap deal.

Osimhen has emerged as one of the best strikers in the world during his time in Serie A with Napoli.

The 25-year-old starred for Napoli as he helped them win the Serie A title in 2022/24, scoring 26 goals in 32 league games.

Napoli declined last season but Osimhen still impressed as he netted 15 goals in his 25 Serie A appearances.

Osimhen has been heavily linked with a move to the Premier League in recent years but clubs have previously been priced out of a move for him.

While it’s been suggested Arsenal could hijack Chelsea in the race to sign Osimhen , the Blues have been in talks with Napoli over a potential cash-plus-player swap deal.

Belgium international Romelu Lukaku is one of Antonio Conte’s top targets ahead of his first season in charge at Napoli and he could be used to boost Chelsea’s chances of landing Osimhen, who has a release clause in his contract worth around £110m.

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Chelsea are keen to offload Lukaku and a report in Italy claimed on Thursday that they have ‘reached an agreement’ with Aston Villa to offload the striker as they are ‘losing patience’ with Napoli.

Nothing has been said about this supposed ‘agreement’ since, so this report needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, especially as Football Insider are saying that Chelsea and Napoli have ‘held new swap deal talks’.

‘Chelsea are continuing to negotiate a deal for Napoli star Victor Osimhen but a full agreement is still some way off, sources have told Football Insider.

‘The Premier League club will not activate the striker’s £93.5million release clause. No club is willing to pay that fee, even though PSG and Chelsea are among Europe’s elite clubs monitoring the Nigeria international’s situation.’

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‘PSG showed interest once Kylian Mbappe left the club, but they are negotiating a deal even though they won’t go near the release clause price.

‘Chelsea have held extensive talks over a swap deal involving Romelu Lukaku heading to Napoli, but that won’t be a straight-player exchange.

‘According to sources, the Blues would need to do a part-exchange that features the Belgian forward and money. Lukaku is worth £30million, which Chelsea are trying to use as part of a complex deal to make a blockbuster transfer a reality.’

Yet according to reports in Italy, Osimhen may need to be convinced to join Chelsea as he is currently ‘unenthusiastic’ about a move to Stamford Bridge.

Without Osimhen, Christopher Nkunku started up front for Chelsea on Saturday as Enzo Maresca’s side were beaten 4-2 by Manchester City.

Speaking post-match, Maresca blamed the pitch for Chelsea’s defeat as they were unable to play the ball quickly.

He said: “Sometimes when we say something, it can sound like an excuse so I don’t want to say this but for sure, the pitch doesn’t help in the way we want to play because the ball has to be quick. This kind of pitch slows down the ball.

“In this moment, we have to learn things. More than the goals we conceded, we need to learn when you concede one, you cannot then concede a goal two minutes later.

“And in the second half, we conceded and then a few minutes we conceded another one. This is something that I just said to the players that we need to learn. When you concede one, it is the moment that you need to become stronger and not concede another one.”