According to reports, Chelsea remain interested in signing Victor Osimhen, but another club are ready to ‘seriously challenge’ the Premier League giants.
Osimhen was understood to be Chelsea‘s top striker target during the summer transfer window, but the two parties could not agree a deal before the deadline at the end of August.
In previous windows, Napoli priced Osimhen out of a move elsewhere, but the Nigeria international’s price decreased in the summer as the Serie A giants attempted to offload him.
Napoli signed Belgium international to replace Osimhen earlier in the window, so they moved to get the big-money forward off their wage bill.
Paris Saint-Germain and Al-Ahli were other potential destinations for Osimhen, but Chelsea were the frontrunners for his signature on deadline day until the transfer collapsed.
After his proposed move to Stamford Bridge fell through, Osimhen completed a surprise loan switch to Turkish giants Galatasaray.
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Considering the other transfers on the table, Osimhen’s move to Galatasaray was extremely underwhelming, but it quickly became clear that this was a short-term solution as the deal includes a break clause in January.
Osimhen has made a superb start to the season as he’s grabbed two goals and four assists in his first four appearances for Galatasaray.
A report in Italy claims Galatasaray ‘want to buy him immediately and is challenging Chelsea’ in the race to sign him permanently.
It is claimed that Osimhen would cost 81 million euro (£67m) in January, while his price in the summer would be a 75 million euro (£62m) fixed fee.
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The report adds.
‘Galatasaray is seriously thinking about buying him in January: the culmination of a love at first sight. For them, the amount would always remain 75 million: the 6 million more in winter, in fact, is related to the termination clause of the loan, a sort of compensation in the event that Osimhen were to go elsewhere.
‘Like Chelsea: he tried in August and is still very interested, so much so that he is considering the possibility of making the move in three months.’
In response to this story, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano warned the media against disrespecting Galatasaray as “nothing is ongoing now”.
“There have been fresh reports about Victor Osimhen’s asking price dropping to €81m for January, but I don’t have any confirmation on this and I think in general Galatasaray should be more respected on the media,” Romano said in his Daily Briefing column.
“They paid important money for Osimhen on loan, it’s not even five or six games and there are already rumours about January and more.
“Nothing is ongoing now, for sure. In any case, there’s a new release clause into his contract if he ends up extending at Napoli as revealed one month ago so that’s the value for the future.”
