According to a report by Fabrice Hawkins, Chelsea FC’s management is in Napoli attempting to convince Victor Osimhen (25) to join the club over Al-Ahli Saudi FC.
Osimhen has been a key target for Chelsea this summer, with the striker being a priority for the London club. However, Hawkins has previously noted that they were facing a stumbling block in convincing him to make the swap.
The player is willing to swap Napoli for London, but he’s reportedly not willing to cut his wage demands, and as things stood, the striker was thought to be closer to joining Al Ahli. However, Chelsea are not yet willing to give up on a player who helped Napoli win their first Scudetto since the 1989/90 season.
Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly no longer part of the race for the striker. Osimhen was a more concrete target earlier in the window, with the Nigerian forward reportedly keen to make the move to the Parc des Princes.
It was thought that Gonçalo Ramos’ injury, which is set to rule him out for several months, would reignite interest in Osimhen, but not so. Despite that injury, PSG did not reignite their interest, and there was no further contact with the Napoli forward.
Chelsea handed damning reality check after scraping into Europa Conference League draw
Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be, we’re going to Oswestry.
Chelsea scraped into Friday night's Europa Conference League group draw after a wretched performance with more holes than a block of Swiss cheese.
The Blues had to survive a second-half onslaught, and a disgraceful late bombardment of fireworks from Servette fans, to reach the Thursday Night Cup mainstream.
In the end, Christopher Nkunku’s early penalty proved just enough. But this is why the fallen giants who once conquered Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Manchester City to win the Champions League now find themselves in a shoal of minnows where they once swam with sharks.
Among the small fry they could meet in the group phase are Welsh tiddlers TNS (The New Saints), who play their home games over the border in Shropshire. Based on this evidence, TNS would fancy their chances.
On a steamy evening, with a curtain of haze draped over Lake Geneva, there was as much intrigue surrounding which players might be joining or leaving Chelsea in the last throes of the transfer window as a booby-trap in Europe.
Despite leaving a battalion of players surplus to requirements at home, manager Enzo Maresca had enough spare bodies to make eight changes from the side who hit Wolves for six last Sunday.
?And in the city where the Geneva Convention established the rights of wartime personnel 75 years ago, Chelsea soon laid down the law.
Skipper Enzo Fernandez had already seen a blistering first-time shot clawed over the angle by Serviette keeper Joel Mall when the Blues went in front after 14 minutes
There was no disputing that Mykhailo Mudryk was wiped in the box out after robbing the dithering Keigo Tsunemoto, and Nkunku buried the resulting sot-kick emphatically.? Nothing could have been more reassuring for Maresca than the French striker’s trademark celebration of inflating the blue balloon concealed in his sock.
?And unlike Nkunku’s party piece, Chelsea looked like they were in no mood to blow it.
But after half an hour of plain sailing, and with little prior warning, they allowed Servette a chink of light where none had existed. Dereck Kutesa’s run and through ball exposed more holes in the Blues’ back line than a block of Emmental cheese and Jeremy Guillemenot’s finish was crisp, low and well beyond Filip Jorgensen’s reach.
?As Chelsea looked rattled, only the Swedish keeper’s fingertips denied Kutesa a couple of minutes before the break after Noni Madueke’s chance to crown his England call-up with his fifth goal in a week was smothered by the alert Mall.
?In truth, for long periods the Blues were poor in the final third. Teenager Marc Guiu offered little threat and Chelsea’s front line lacked a focal point… someone like, er, Romelu Lukaku, offloaded to Napoli for £30 million earlier in the day.
Mudryk hugged the left touchline like an eco-warrior hugging a tree, but the day he masters the art of consistency will be the day you discover Santa Claus in your chimney, the Easter bunny distributing chocolate eggs and the tooth fairy leaving a pound under your pillow.?
And the going suddenly got very bumpy for Chelsea when Servette sub Anzo Crivelli’s near-post header from fellow replacement Miroslav Stevanovic’s cross caught Jorgensen in no man’s land.
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