Chelsea's Osimhen alternatives as PSG close on Mbappe replacement

Stuart Telford

• 16 Feb 2024 15:49 GMT
• 3 min read

Chelsea are sounding out alternatives to Victor Osimhen with Paris Saint-Germain closing on the Napoli goal machine as a replacement for the Real Madrid-bound Kylian Mbappe.

Osimhen has been one of Chelsea's top transfer targets since Todd Boehly took control at Stamford Bridge, the Nigerian having fired Napoli to their first Serie A title in 33 years last season with 26 goals.

Osimhen had given Blues fans hope when he revealed he grew up supporting Chelsea and was a big admirer of a previous Stamford Bridge No.9 in Didier Drogba, although he signed a new contract with a €130 million release clause in December.

And now Mbappe's likely move to Madrid from PSG has thrown another spanner in the works, with the French champions making Osimhen their top target to replace him.

Osimhen PSG-bound

"Chelsea are sounding out alternatives to Victor Osimhen, with the striker now firmly in Paris Saint-Germain's sights to replace Kylian Mbappe," reports Nizaar Kinsella for The Evening Standard.

"…Chelsea are also interested in Brentford's Ivan Toney and Brighton's Evan Ferguson but will continue to sound out further options before the summer."

Toney and Ferguson both have some Premier League pedigree, although the former is more experienced than the latter having hit 20 goals for Brentford last term.

Ferguson, 19, is up to six in the current campaign, though, whilst Toney has been serving a suspension for gambling offences.

They are valued at €22.4m and €29.5m respectively by FootballTransfers' inhouse algorithm, although both selling clubs are understood to be holding out for significantly more.

Chelsea's need to raise more than €100m in player sales this summer if they are to satisfy FFP regulations, let alone splash out on a striker, but there is plenty of dead wood in Mauricio Pochettino's squad.