The two reasons Chelsea failed to sign Victor Osimhen on transfer deadline day

Louis Sealey writes a blog post on August 30, 2024, at 10:43pm. The post is later updated at 11:08pm on the same day.

Victor Osimhen is still with Napoli even though the European transfer window has closed. Chelsea was not able to make a deal for him, even though he was a player they had been interested in for a long time.

The Chelsea team has been consistently rumored to be interested in signing Osimhen in the past few years. Just like in previous transfer periods, they attempted to sign him for Stamford Bridge this summer.

They were pursuing a player who has made 133 appearances for Napoli and scored 76 goals. This helped the team win the Serie A title two years ago. He has also scored 21 goals in 35 games for Nigeria.

Chelsea were eager to finalize an agreement for Osimhen after Nicolas Jackson had a somewhat inconsistent first season at Stamford Bridge. Jackson was acquired for £32m from Villarreal the previous summer.

Jackson scored in Chelsea's 6-2 victory against Wolves last weekend, but there are still concerns about the Senegalese striker. He has been criticized for his inaccurate shooting during the 2023-24 season.

Osimhen does not struggle to score goals, but it is somewhat unexpected that he is still with Napoli after the European transfer window has closed.

Chelsea were still attempting to reach an agreement with Napoli on the last day before the transfer deadline. A group of representatives from the Stamford Bridge club were in Naples, hoping to make progress in negotiations.

However, Chelsea was unable to secure their desired player in the long run, mostly because Osimhen did not reduce his wage requests sufficiently to reach a compromise with the club.

On Friday evening, news came out that Chelsea had proposed a deal to Osimhen that would pay him €155,000 per week, which is lower than his current salary at Napoli.

Osimhen, who also caught the eye of Arsenal and clubs in Saudi Arabia, refused to accept a reduction in pay despite his desire to play in the Premier League.

The Chelsea team left Napoli feeling let down on Friday night, with the relationship between the two parties completely destroyed. Fabrizio Romano reported this.

Chelsea decided to focus on signing Jadon Sancho from Manchester United instead of pursuing a deal for Osimhen, which ultimately did not come to fruition.

Chelsea had a feeling that they could make a clever move for Sancho at the end of the summer transfer window. They agreed with Manchester United just before the window closed.

Arsenal were also rumored to be interested in signing Osimhen as a potential replacement for their starting striker Kai Havertz. However, they ultimately chose not to make a formal offer.

As the transfer window for non-European teams continues for a few more days, Saudi team Al-Ahli is still in the running to finalize a deal for Osimhen.

They reached an agreement with Napoli last week, but the striker has demonstrated a lack of enthusiasm about moving there. However, this attitude may change now that a move to England is no longer an option.

According to L'Equipe, Osimhen has informed Napoli that he is no longer prepared to play for the Italian team after a failed transfer to the Premier League during the summer. This essentially means he is refusing to play, or going on strike.

Talking on the final day of the transfer window, former England footballer Jamie Redknapp expressed his opinion that Osimhen would have been an ideal fit for the Premier League.

Redknapp said on Sky Sports that he believes the player was exceptional for Napoli, especially a few years ago when they were champions.

When it comes to Chelsea, it's hard to predict what will happen. They have Jackson on their team, but it seems like they don't fully believe in him.

I really hope to see Osimhen playing in the Premier League. I believe he would be a great fit and his skills would be well-suited for the league.

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