Why Chelsea are back in the race for elite striker who could be got for £80m plus two players | OneFootball

We’ve ruled out a Victor Osimhen switch to Chelsea many times now, but the rumours just won’t go away, and eventually we’re going to have to start taking them seriously again.

It seems like no other teams are seriously interested, and Napoli want to sell. That puts us right back in the frame, despite everything.

Caughtoffside claim to have exclusive information that “new contacts over Osimhen could take place soon,” with Chelsea hoping to offset the major cash cost by including unwanted assets Cesare Casadei and Romelu Lukaku.

We’ve heard many times that our priorities for this summer are a right winger and a striker. We’ve so far made little progress on either front, but we’ve made some bargain signings to fill other gaps, leaving us plenty of budget for a marquee move up top. If we decide that we can get away with our current crop of wingers (and there’s certainly enough of them), an elite striker like Osimhen could become afford able even on a limited budget like we’re working with.

Victor Osimhen with a Chelsea logo

An impossible deal becomes possible again

While we’ve ruled out a deal many times, nothing is impossible, and while offering two players in a swap deal feels hopeful, one can’t rule it out.

After holding on to Osimhen for many years, it looks like Napoli have decided to cash in now and move on to a new era under Antonio Conte. If we can offer £80m (not impossible given we’ve not made any other signings this summer), plus Lukaku and Casadei valued at something like £60m between them, that’s a good deal for Napoli.

The question then will be his wages. But if he’s willing to fit into our wage structure and take a heavily incentivised deal, then that can happen too.