Osimhen breakthrough coming? Chelsea offer Napoli €100m star in blockbuster swap

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 6 May 2024 06:47 BST
• 4 min read

To sign Victor Osimhen from Napoli, Chelsea are ready to offer Romelu Lukaku as a makeweight in the transfer deal – and there is every chance that the Serie A club could accept this offer.

Chelsea have been pursuing Osimhen as their leading option for the No.9 role for months and reportedly made “first contact” for the Nigeria international star over the weekend.

Landing the 30-year-old promises to be a tricky operation. The Blues will have to tiptoe around the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules if they are to broker a deal for a player who has a release clause worth €120 million.

READ MORE: Chelsea prepare €55m transfer bid for wonderkid dubbed 'next Messi'

Current ETV

Victor Osimhen

F (CRL)

Napoli

Victor Osimhen

F (CRL)

Napoli

€72.5M

ETV Range

€54.4M - €90.6M

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Sky Sport Italia reports that one of the ways they are planning on doing this is by offering Lukaku in part-exchange.

For Chelsea, this would kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, it potentially allows them to keep any transfer fee for Osimhen down while secondly getting a player the Blues no longer have any use for off their books.

Lukaku, who the Blues signed for €113 million in 2022 from Inter, is currently on loan at Roma but there have been questions what he will do in the summer. The Belgium international has been linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League but turned down such a switch last summer, indicating he still wanted to play top-level football.

Napoli would allow him to do this – but only if they are interested in him.

READ MORE: Latest Chelsea transfer rumours

Chelsea face Osimhen competition

Lukaku’s record in Serie A, meanwhile, has been consistently strong and even this season he has a commendable 12 goals in 30 appearances, the latest of which came against Juventus on Sunday. He has also shone in two previous spells at Inter.

Napoli’s new sporting director Giovanni Manna could well be tempted. After all, he was the man who tried to sign Lukaku for Juventus last summer before the deal broke down over costs.

Chelsea, meanwhile, likely need to make a solution like this stick as PSG, a more financially powerful club, are also interested in using Osimhen to replace the departing Kylian Mbappe.

Other suitors in the Nigeria international, including Manchester United and Arsenal, have cooled their interest for now.