Chelsea receive Victor Osimhen transfer boost amid £311m warning

Chelsea are in pole position to sign Napoli striker Victor Osimhen

Victor Osimhen will leave Napoli this summer and Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain are leading the race to sign him, according to reports in Italy.

Osimhen has become one of the world’s best strikers off the back of his goalscoring feats at Napoli in recent years. The Nigeria international swapped Lille for the Italian side in 2020 for a club-record fee of £60m, potentially rising to £68m in add-ons, and since then he has scored 75 goals in 130 appearances.

That has led to links with some giants of European football and despite the 25-year-old putting pen to paper on a new deal until the summer of 2026 earlier this year, the club made it clear Osimhen will leave at the end of the season.

Napoli owner Aurelio de Laurentiis told reporters in January: “We knew that [he would leave] since last summer. That’s why the contract negotiations were so drawn out and amicable… but we knew perfectly well that he would go Real Madrid, to PSG or to a English team.”

DON’T MISS: Chelsea focused on supreme Victor Osimhen alternative as Pochettino’s big striker plans emerge

Osimhen himself said that month he already knew what his next move would be, but reports suggest the striker has a release clause between £102.6m and £111.2m and that may put off some potential suitors.

‘I’ve already made up my mind’

In January, he told CBS Sports: “The rumour is going around about me linked with the Premier League. When you’re one of the hottest strikers on the globe, you expect this type of thing, and of course, the Premier League is one of the biggest and best leagues in the whole world.

“I’m with Napoli, I signed a new contract. I’m enjoying my time there. I think I’ve already made up my mind, I already know what I want to do in my career. Since I’ve started, I’ve been the one making my own decisions and everything is working out well for me.

“I already know the next step I want to take, so for now I just want to finish the season strong. I will [then] go relax somewhere with my daughter, think about my life and then finally come out with a decision that I’ve already made.”

Several months on from his rather cryptic remarks, La Gazzetta dello Sport claims Chelsea and PSG are the frontrunners to recruit Osimhen when he leaves Napoli at the end of the season – with Real Madrid not mentioned.

Chelsea must heed £300m transfer precedents

Both Chelsea and PSG are facing a critical summer transfer window as the latter are preparing for the loss of talisman Kylian Mbappe to Madrid and the former need an out-and-out striker to give them some extra firepower.

While PSG appear to not have any profit and sustainability concerns, that can not be said for Chelsea – who almost certainly will have to sell players to not fall afoul of financial fair play rules.

The Blues have spent more than £1b on transfers since Todd Boehly’s takeover in 2022 and for them to avoid a points deduction it is likely they will have to sell academy players who count as ‘pure profit’ on the balance sheet.

DEEP DIVE: Jose Mourinho next club: FIVE options for the ‘Special One’ to start next ‘project’

Forking out more than £100m for Osimhen is a huge gamble and if he doesn’t hit the ground running, just as big-money recruits Moises Caicedo, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Enzo Fernandez failed to do, the Stamford Bridge side could be in big trouble.

The aforementioned Chelsea trio cost a combined £311m and so far they have drastically underperformed. That should act as a warning of sorts to the club’s hierarchy. There will be plenty to ponder for all parties this summer.