The speculation surrounding the future of Napoli striker Victor Osimhen continues to grow as the forward is increasingly stuck at the Serie A club.
This is following interest from Paris Saint-Germain, who are not willing to shift ground on their offer for the former Lille striker.
Arsenal, another club linked to the Nigerian striker, are looking at other targets while he is reportedly ‘unenthusiastic’ about the idea of joining Chelsea.
Although Didier Drogba, a legend of the club, remains his idol, Osimhen seems not to favor a move to Stamford Bridge at the moment.
This would have made things easier for the Blues, who want to dispose of Romelu Lukaku from their wage bill as the Belgian seems not to have a future at the club, having spent his last two seasons on loan after completing a lucrative move to the club from Inter Milan.
Osimhen seems to be in a tight corner after signing the lucrative new contract with a huge wage increase in December 2023. Part of the agreement is that he would be sold in the summer, presumably for the €120m release clause, which the Paris club is not ready to meet.
However, there have been no offers anywhere near that figure. With time running out to find him a solution, Osimhen has been watching his play from the stand as he recovers from an injury.
Antonio Conte wants to reunite with Lukaku, but it seems Osimhen won’t want to go the other way. PSG was close to securing the Nigeria international, but they first need to sell either Randal Kolo Muani or Goncalo Ramos to make room and also avoid financial fair play sanctions.
Arsenal on the other hand, reportedly stepped up their pursuit over the last few days, but seem if anything closer to Viktor Gyokeres or Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez.
According to the Corriere dello Sport, Osimhen himself is ‘unenthusiastic’ about the idea of joining the troubled Premier League side.
As the transfer window remains open, everyone will be waiting for one of these dominoes to fall, as Osimhen is left out of all five Napoli pre-season friendly matches and Lukaku is training alone at Cobham while his teammates play on their USA tour.
