Chelsea are confident they can win the race for Napoli striker Victor Osimhen even without the allure of Champions League football next season, 90min understands.
As revealed in February, Chelsea have made Osimhen their top striker target for 2023 after months of scouting the Nigeria international, and club officials are preparing what will likely be a club-record bid to take the 24-year-old to Stamford Bridge.
Osimhen, who has 21 goals in 23 games for Serie A leaders Napoli this season, is also on the radars of Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, who are all understood to have made contact with the striker’s representatives.
However, sources have confirmed to 90min that Chelsea believe they can outbid their rivals and convince Osimhen to move to London even without the promise of Champions League football next season.
Moving to England’s capital city is of interest to Osimhen but so too is the chance to follow in the footsteps of his childhood idol, Ivorian striker Didier Drogba, who is fondly remembered as one of Chelsea’s all-time greatest players.
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Chelsea believe Osimhen would want to move to Stamford Bridge even without European football and the Blues are also prepared to blow other clubs out of the water with a huge club-record bid for the striker.
Manchester United remain in contact with Osimhen’s entourage but are currently focused on signing Tottenham striker Harry Kane alongside Bayern, who would not be prepared to pay the same sort of money as Chelsea in pursuit of the Nigerian.
As for PSG, uncertainty over the future of manager Christophe Galtier means the French side’s interest in Osimhen is nowhere near as advanced as that of Chelsea, who have been working behind the scenes for months.
Sources close to Chelsea remain confident that they will be able to recruit Osimhen, whose arrival would be partly funded by a number of sales. The likes of Conor Gallagher, Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech are among the most high-profile names who could leave Stamford Bridge this summer.
Mason Mount is also a candidate to be sold this summer if he continues to decline a contract extension, but Chelsea hold renewed confidence about securing the midfielder’s future ahead of a fresh round of talks.
The Blues are keen to overhaul their struggling forward line and have already wrapped up a deal for RB Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku, but the Frenchman is seen as a better fit for the position…
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