Victor Osimhen was left out of the Napoli squad for their pre-season friendly against Egnatia on Sunday. The 25-year-old is pushing for a move away from the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium after growing frustrated, despite scoring 17 goals in 32 matches last season.
It was reported last week that Paris Saint-Germain had reached an agreement with Osimhen over a move to the Parc des Princes, but could back away from a deal due to the asking price. Meanwhile, Chelsea ‘like’ Osimhen, according to Fabrizio Romano. However, the Blues won’t pay the £110m release clause in his contract.
Napoli are looking at alternative solutions for Osimhen, who has been training separately from the rest of Antonio Conte’s squad and is yet to feature in their pre-season games, because they want to bring in Romelu Lukaku as his replacement as soon as possible. It’s added that Napoli could be open to discussing a move for Osimhen as part of talks with Chelsea for Lukaku, who spent last season on loan at Roma.
football.london understands that Chelsea are keen to sign a new striker this summer, but they won’t pay what they deem to be ‘over the odds’ or ‘panic buy’ in the latter stages of the window. This stance is the same for any possible deal for Osimhen, despite his track record in Serie A and Europe.
Meanwhile, Napoli director Giovanni Manna confirmed over the weekend that ‘there will be movement’ in the transfer market, hinting that the club are going to sell Osimhen. Speaking to reporters over the weekend, as quoted by TeamTalk, Manna said: “We aimed to provide the coach with a competitive team from the first days of training camp to immediately tackle the championship.
“There will be movements, as there is still a month of the market left, and we might make some additions. This is a process, a project starting this year with the coach at its centre.
“We share a strategy with the club, and we are calm and clear-headed. We will not make any reckless moves but will make decisions that support our technical and tactical ideas.”
