Chelsea, who have slipped to 14th place without a win apart from a victory over promoted Luton Town, look to the Napoli killer.
Chelsea has slipped to 14th place with one win, two draws, and five points (five goals scored and five conceded) through five rounds of the 2023-24 English Premier League, the lowest of the “Big Six. Manchester United (six points) are directly above them.
The Red Devils made a number of big signings in the summer transfer window, including Moises Caicedo, Christopher Nkunku, Axel Dias, Nicholas Jackson, Cole Palmer, and Romeo Rabia. They’ve spent over £400 million (estimated) on these signings alone.
However, their performance has been terrible. Critics say they don’t know what they’re doing. After the opening 1-1 draw with Liverpool, the reaction was that it could be, but after the 1-3 loss to West Ham United, the mood changed.
The Hammers narrowly escaped relegation last season, winning the Europa Conference League (UECL) and qualifying for the Europa League (UEL). The only notable changes were the sale of key midfielder Declan Rice and the addition of James-Ward Prouse.
However, Chelsea were held to a single goal despite fielding the likes of Jackson, Sterling, and Chukwuemeka. Even with the numerical advantage, they were far from a goal down when West Ham’s Naby Agüero was sent off in the 22nd minute for accumulating cautions, and they conceded a further goal from the penalty spot in added time to Lucas Paqueta. Enzo Fernandez’s missed penalty at the end of the first half was the final blow.
A 3-0 win at Luton after the Chelsea game, courtesy of two goals from Sterling and another from Jackson, and a League Cup win over AFC Wimbledon seemed to have them cruising, but a 0-1 home loss to Nottingham and a 0-0 draw at Bournemouth led to criticism of Mauricio Pochettino. Pochettino was accused of not being able to integrate his squad properly.
However, Pochettino’s position is understandable. Pochettino has been plagued by injuries to starters and substitutes, including Trevor Chalobah, Rabia, Nkunku, Badiacile, Wesley Fofana, Chukwuemeka, Armando Borja, Reece James, and Marcus Bettinelli.
The loss of Nkunkwo to a knee injury is particularly frustrating as he scored 16 goals in 25 league games in the German Bundesliga for Leipzig last season.
In light of this, British internet outlet Team Talk reported on the 18th (KST) that ‘Chelsea are considering a move for Victor Osimhen (Napoli). Of course, Arsenal are also looking at Osimhen. There were talks before the signing of Gabriel Jesus.소닉카지노
Osimhen was the key to Napoli’s Serie A title last season. If Kim Min-Jae (Bayern Munich) was there in defense, Osimhen was at the center of the attack. He scored 26 goals to lead the attack alongside Hvitsa Kvarachelia (12 goals, Napoli).
Not surprisingly, many teams were interested in signing Osimhen. From Manchester United to Paris Saint-Germain, FC Barcelona, and Juventus, all clubs with deep pockets were interested in Osimhen. Even Saudi giants Al-Hilal reportedly offered a €200 million ($282.6 million) deal to sign Osimhen.
Napoli’s contract with Osimhen runs until June 2025. To keep him, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has proposed a one-year extension until June 2026 with a buyout clause of up to 150 million euros ($220 million). His annual salary would be around €10 million after taxes.
Napoli’s intention is that they will not let Osimhen go unless it’s a so-called ‘mega-contract offer’. It’s unclear whether Chelsea would be able to make a financial offer that Napoli would be willing to accept. Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules are also involved.
‘If Chelsea are to succeed in signing Osimhen, they would have to do so on the back of qualifying for the UCL. It doesn’t look easy at the moment. It’s also worth noting that Osimhen hasn’t yet received an offer from Napoli, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Al Hilal’s “crazy offer” comes back in.
To sign Osimhen, he says, you’d have to start bidding at least £120 million.