Mourinho tells Chelsea Osimhen’s one ‘problem’

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 12 Sep 2024 01:18 CDT
• 2 min read

Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has one ‘problem’ with Victor Osimhen, who his Fenerbahce side are set to come up against this season.

Osimhen completed a surprise loan move to Galatasaray from Napoli after a Deadline Day switch to Chelsea broke down over the player’s wage demands.

The Blues had pursued the 25-year-old Nigeria international forward throughout the summer and seemed to have agreed upon a loan deal only for it to collapse at the last.

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Current ETV

Victor Osimhen

F (C)

Galatasaray

Victor Osimhen

F (C)

Galatasaray

€71.1M

ETV Range

€53.3M - €88.9M

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Fabrizio Romano says that Chelsea could yet rekindle their interest in the prolific striker, either in January or next summer, yet until then he will be Mourinho’s problem to deal with given that Galatasaray are Fenerbahce’s greatest rivals.

The Portuguese has already started the mind games with Osimhen and the Super Lig’s referees, telling them to be wary of one particular trait that the forward shows.

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Mourinho on Osimhen

"I don't have problems with Victor, " Mourinho, who most recently coached Roma in Serie A, told HT Spor.

"In fact, we have a very good relationship. But every time I play against him, I speak with him because I don't like the way he behaves. He dives too much.

"I told him, 'Look, you are one of the two best African players, you and Mohamed Salah.'

"In the past, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o, George Weah. You cannot behave like this. He dives too much. That's my problem with him.

"But after 10 minutes, we are fine. We have a very good relationship and for the Turkish league it's fantastic and for Galatasaray it's fantastic too."

Osimhen is short of game time this season, having been frozen out at Napoli before his big move to Galatasaray, but he did feature briefly for Nigeria against Benin, during which he claimed an assist, while he played a half in a scoreless draw with Rwanda.