According to The Daily Mail, Chelsea could use Christian Pulisic or Romelu Lukaku in a swap deal to sign Napoli striker Victor Osimhen this summer.
The London giants are expected to land a marquee striker in the next transfer window and Osimhen has been identified as one of the top targets by the club’s hierarchy.
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis recently said that he is not for sale but The Daily Mail believe the Serie A outfit will give in if they receive an offer of £130 million.
The outlet add that Chelsea could attempt to negotiate a player-plus-cash deal for Osimhen with Pulisic or Lukaku heading to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Ambitious
Chelsea have lacked a regular goalscoring threat this campaign. They have netted just 34 league goals from as many games. Kai Havertz has been the top-scorer with just 7 goals.
Hence, they must find a solution and Osimhen could be the answer to their problems. The Nigerian has netted 28 goals from just 35 appearances for Napoli this season.
He would be a huge upgrade on the likes of Havertz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but the big question mark is whether they can finalise terms with him and Napoli.
Chelsea have had a poor league season and they are currently 11th in the table with only 42 points on the board.
It is clear that they won’t be playing any form of European football and this could act as a potential stumbling block in convincing the 24-year-old to move to Stamford Bridge.
Meanwhile, Napoli could also resist the prospect of accepting a part-exchange deal for Osimhen despite their reported interest in signing Pulisic from the west Londoners.
Osimhen has two years remaining in his Napoli contract and knowing De Laurentiis’ tough negotiating skills, he could decide to keep the striker if the asking price is not met.
De Laurentiis previously resisted the temptation to sell Kalidou Koulibaly in his prime. He offloaded him to Chelsea last summer after he entered the last year of his contract.
