“Breakthrough expected soon” on striker deal according to exclusive | OneFootball

Chelsea have two pretty delicate double deals to work on at the moment.

The first involved Conor Gallagher and Joao Felix. From what we hear, that’s almost done. Felix has done his medical and agreed a contract. He just needs to sign it now. Gallagher is in London, but ready to fly to Madrid to complete his part of the deal the moment Felix is rubber stamped.

From what we can tell, that should all be done in the next 24 hours or so.

The other deal has been building up for even longer, but remains some way off completion. Napoli want Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku, and Chelsea want Napoli striker Victor Osimhen. But both sides started a long way off in terms of their respective valuations, and are only now starting to meet in the middle.

Our writer Simon Phillips today exclusively reported positive news on one side of things on his Substack – the Lukaku deal “advanced a little bit yesterday. Napoli and Chelsea have gotten closer on a fee, and a breakthrough is expected to come soon now if they follow the advancements of yesterday.”

Victor Osimhen with a Chelsea logo

Osimhen finances hard for Chelsea to swallow

That’s positive. But the problem is always going to be on the Osimhen side of things. He’s valued much higher than Lukaku because of his age, and his vast wages are likely to present a problem for Chelsea too. As it stands, we don’t see how the Blues make the move happen without blowing up their whole wage structure.

Phillips speculates that a potential sale of Raheem Sterling might be the only way to make this work – but that presents its own difficulties. even with the winger now apparently seeing the writing on the wall for him at Stamford Bridge.