Tag: Osimhen

 Chelsea are reportedly  ready to offer Romelu Lukaku and Cesare Casadei as part of a package deal to lower the cost of Napoli striker Victor Osimhen.

The Nigeria international is frustrated at the lack of interest on the transfer market, as he only signed a new contract in December with the express and stated intention of leaving this summer.

The idea was to sell for his €130m release clause, but that is considered far too high by the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea, who instead looked at other targets.

Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid don’t seem particularly interested in Osimhen either.

With this in mind, TEAMtalk claimed  that Chelsea are talking to Napoli about various options to exchange players, which would bring down the overall cost of the operation.

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Lukaku is the inevitable candidate, seeing as Napoli’s new coach Antonio Conte is desperate to reunite with the former Inter striker and he is not part of the plans at Stamford Bridge.

Read Also: Osimhen’s associates hit Paris for PSG move

Armando Broja and Trevoh Chalobah were mentioned, but neither of them are of particular interest to the Partenopei.

A name that could well entice Conte is Casadei, the 21-year-old Italian midfielder who left Inter for €14.86m in 2022 and worked under Enzo Maresca on loan at Leicester City.

Napoli have lost Piotr Zielinski as a free agent to Inter, so Casadei would fill that role.

If Lukaku and Casadei were part of the deal, Chelsea would hope to pay only €60m cash for Osimhen.

PSG could well be the eventual destination of Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen.

The 25-year-old has been subject to various speculations linking him to Premier League sides Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United as well as French giants Paris Saint-German.

The deal to PSG has now got a huge boost as reports coming from France have stated that the player’s representatives are currently in Paris.

“I knew something. I don’t know if he was physically in Paris, but I knew about the movements of his entourage,” Claudio Anellucci, a FIFA agent revealed.

Read Also: ‘Rejected’ Osimhen to start pre-season with Napoli

“Knowing how Paris moves, if the player was called to the city, it means they want to close the situation quickly. On the 11th (July), Napoli goes into retreat and, consequently, the coach will want to have a minimum of linearity, a base from which to start again. Having Osimhen there for only a few days would not be profitable for anyone.

“Both the club and the player’s entourage are working to avoid the inconveniences related to the presence of the attacker in pre-season.”

Manchester United have reportedly explored the idea of including Rasmus Hojlund and cash in a deal for Napoli star Victor Osimhen.

According to Calcio Napoli 24, Manchester United may have explored the idea of including Rasmus Hojlund plus cash in a deal for Victor Osimhen. The 25-year-old star is expected to leave Napoli, although new manager Antonio Conte has no interest in the former Atalanta striker as he prefers another name.

Napoli are eager to begin their summer transfer activities, and will only bring in a new striker after the sale of Osimhen. So far, they have stayed stern on their valuation of the Nigerian striker and have shown no signs of accepting less than the 25-year-old star’s €130 million release clause.

Read Also: Napoli silent on Osimhen after sacking six 

Osimhen remains confident about joining a Premier League club and Manchester United is among those keen to join. However, none of the interested clubs are eager to pay his release clause. For instance, Arsenal have hesitated in making an offer, while Chelsea are no longer in discussions about the Nigerian.

Should Osimhen depart in the summer, Napoli will focus their efforts on bringing Romelu Lukaku as their primary replacement option. Conte recently hinted at an interest in the Belgian, and he remains in the market after a good enough loan spell at Roma.

Conte knows Lukaku well from his time as Inter Milan’s manager and would like the Belgian to replace Osimhen should the Nigerian depart. As mentioned before, Napoli will only begin their search for a new striker when they manage to sell Osimhen, which is complicated owing to his massive release clause.

Nigerian ace linked to Man United again 

Former Italian champions Napoli remain silent on the future of Nigeria international striker Victor Osimhen despite announcing the departure of six first-team players.

Yesterday, Napoli  officially confirmed that six players will be leaving the club upon the expiry of their contracts, including Piotr Zielinski, Leander Dendoncker, Pierluigi Gollini, Hubert Idasiak, Diego Demme and Hamed Traore.

 “We would like to thank each and every one of them for their professionalism and commitment to the Napoli cause during their time in Naples. We wish them all the best for their future endeavours,” the club wrote in a brief statement on the club website.

All six of those players had been under contract until June 30, so they will no longer be employed by the club from today.

Meanwhile, Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis(ADL) is ready to sell Osimhen this summer even as new coach Antonio Conte have accepted that  the Nigeria international will leave the Azzurri in the coming months.

Napoli’s asking price of €120m  for their star man has seemingly stopped any club from truly getting matters started yet.

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Manchester United have been credited with an interest in the last few months, with it even, somewhat oddly, suggested that they would be willing to offer cash plus Hojlund to try and get the Nigerian to Old Trafford this summer.

That idea was quickly dismissed at the time but La Repubblica stated  that it’s not completely dead yet, even though Manchester United have also been talking to Joshua Zirkzee and his entourage.

“As decided some time ago, Victor Osimhen will leave Napoli in this transfer window. PSG and Chelsea are always paying close attention to the Nigerian striker, but Manchester United also continues to monitor his situation,” they claimed. “In recent months, United have tried to convince Napoli for Osimhen, offering money plus the price tag of Rasmus Hojlund.”

 “A proposal that could be resubmitted, but Antonio Conte’s goal remains Romelu Lukaku. Napoli’s attack market will start after the sale of Osimhen, with many names proposed but with only one great goal: the Belgian goal scorer.”

 Davido excited meeting Nigerian ace

Napoli new manager  Antonio Conte  refused  making categorical statement  on the future of striker Victor Osimhen  despite  confirmation that  the Nigerian will leave the former Serie A champions  this summer.

The 25-year-old Super Eagles star  is looking for a move away from Serie A but Napoli’s initial €150M release clause has reportedly  warned off   potential suitors including Chelsea and Arsenal.

This week  there were claims that  the Partenopei  was even ready to lower that initial valuation to €100M, in the hope that they can free up much needed transfer funds for Conte, who is understood to be desperate to land Belgian international striker Romelu Lukaku this summer.

But at  his unveiling  to the local media yesterday, the 54-year-old  former Juventus and Inter Milan, said he was aware  of  Osimhen’s current status at the  club hence his stance not to jump into unnecessary conclusion.

Read Also: Minister urges NFF to fix shaky 2026 World Cup campaign

 “As far as Osimhen is concerned, just as I knew very well about the situation of Kvara, Di Lorenzo, Anguissa, Lobotka, on whom I had an absolute veto, I know very well about the Osimhen situation,” Conte , a silver medal winner  with Italy at USA 1994 FIFA World Cup, reportedly said.  “I know that there are agreements with the club, it’s a totally different situation, which I’ll witness.

“Then if you ask me about the player, he’s a top player, but I can’t get into any discussions about Osimhen because these are previous agreements,” he added.

Elsewhere in Lagos, holidaying Osimhen  was on Monday  one of the very-very-important-personalities that graced the mother-of-all-weddings of  Nigerian Afrobeats superstar Davido who  confessed he was star struck when he saw the Nigerian ace striker.

A lot of pictures and videos of  the ceremony have surfaced, and one of them was from when Davido met with Osimhen. The Afrobeats star, who is a force in the music industry looked quite pleased to have Osimhen at his wedding, and he admitted that he was star struck.

Also  at the star-studded wedding was f ormer Super Eagles captain Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha as well as the immediate past NFF President Amaju Pinnick  amongst other  celebrities.

Eagles striker to grace Davido’s, Chioma’s wedding

Still being pilloried for his  video rants against former Super Eagles coach Finidi George, Victor Osimhen‘s future at Napoli hangs in the balance even as the Italian Serie A side are reportedly ready to drop their staggering asking price for the Nigerian striker.

The 25-year-old is looking for a move away from Serie A but Napoli’s initial €150M release clause has warned off potential suitors that include Chelsea and Arsenal.

According to Daniele Longo of Calciomercato.com, the Partenopei now may be ready to lower that initial valuation to €100M, in the hope that they can free up much needed transfer funds for new boss Antonio Conte, who is understood to be desperate to land Belgian international striker Romelu Lukaku this summer.

Longo noted that Chelsea, who were understood to be in pole-position to sign the Nigerian international, have never opened any negotiation with the 2023 Serie A champions.

The only avenues open at this time seem to be the Saudi Pro-League, where a reported salary of €40M a season has been offered, or Paris Saint-Germain, with Osimhen not keen on either option, preferring a move to the English Premier League.

Read Also: Minister invites NFF over poor World Cup results

Meanwhile, Napoli’s new coach, Antonio Conte, has presumably identified Romelu  Lukaku as one of his primary targets ahead of the new season, but a deal for the Chelsea striker can’t be completed until Osimhen is sold, leaving things on standby.

In a related development, holidaying Osimhen will expectedly be one of the high profiles at the eagerly anticipated marriage ceremony of music icon David Adeleke, a.k.a Davido, and his fiancée, Chioma  Roland, in Lagos today.

Osimhen is reportedly one of the first players invited to the star-studded event as a video showed the Napoli striker  excitedly accepting an invitation to the high octane event.

The thrill was captured in a video posted by Davido on his Instagram story, in which the Napoli striker was seen jumping with delight to Chris Brown’s hit “Hmmm,” which includes Davido himself.

With the wedding invitation in hand, Osimhen’s contagious eagerness emphasised the importance of the occasion.

In response to the lively scene, Davido, who has been promoting the wedding across social media platforms with the hashtag #CHIVIDO2024, captioned the video on his Instagram story with praise for Osimhen, declaring him “WORLDBEST @victorosimhen9.”

2013 Africa Cup of Nations-winning striker Brown Ideye has blasted Victor Osimhen for the disparaging remarks the Napoli striker made about coach Finidi George last weekend.

While reacting to Finidi’s statement that Osimhen did not want to participate in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, and he cannot beg the reigning African Footballer of the Year to represent the country, Osimhen went on an extraordinary rant on Instagram Live, attacking Finidi and Super Eagles fans who had questioned his commitment to the Nigeria national team.

Ideye has placed the blame on Osimhen, emphasizing that the reigning African Footballer of the Year should not have publicly insulted a Super Eagles legend under any circumstances.

The former Olympiacos and Dynamo Kyiv star pointed out that the Super Eagles have underperformed in recent years due to the absence of a code of conduct to guide the national team players, unlike in his time.

He noted that the current Super Eagles players lack passion and spirit of nationalism, and are not desperate to defend the colours of Nigeria.

In an X space conversation hosted by The Naija Football Conference, Ideye said: “Coming to what happened between coach Finidi and Victor, a lot of people asked me the best way to go when a coach calls you out.

Read Also: NFF decries undisciplined conduct of Super Eagles

“I said I’ll get my lawyer, we’ll do a write up on all my social media platforms and I will post it, and I will call the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, speak to him, call the coach.

“What Victor did is wrong, a lot of people can say he had to defend himself. What are you defending, who are you trying to explain to that you have an injury?

“You don’t need to explain to people that you have an injury that’s why you’re not in camp. Call the coach to see if he really said what he said before going out there to your social media platforms.”

Ideye disclosed that he reached out to Osimhen, advising him to apologize to Finidi following his Instagram Live outburst.

“I told him I’m disappointed in you but what you have to do is to go back to that social media and apologize to Nigerians and Finidi because no matter how we want to say it he’s a legend.

“He cleared the road for you like we normally say in Nigeria so you don’t disrespect people like that.

“I don’t care who you are, I don’t care how many awards you have won, I don’t care what you have done in your club.

“Africa’s best players don’t behave the way you behave. I spoke to him you don’t behave like that. You have 2.7 million people watching you on your (Instagram) Live and you are ranting, talking down on a legend.

“It’s not like that, I’m waiting for Victor to apologize, he has to apologize. He just has to do it.”

According to Ideye, the absence of a genuine leader in the present Super Eagles team is evident and he also highlighted that with Joseph Yobo, Vincent Enyeama and John Obi Mikel, certain behaviors were simply off-limits during his time with the national team.

According to Cronache di Napoli, via Tuttomercatoweb, new Napoli boss Antonio Conte wants a face-to-face meeting star striker Victor Osimhen to discuss his future amid uncertainty regarding his exit from the club.

The report suggests that the former Chelsea boss will likely discuss the possibility of the Super Eagles forward staying at Napoli with no club presently ready to pay his hefty €130m release clause.

The list of clubs interested in his services is decreasing by the day.

Read Also: NFF decries undisciplined conduct of Super Eagles

Chelsea and Manchester United have decided to shift focus on younger forwards like Samuel Omorodion and Joshua Zirkzee while Arsenal are now reportedly in talks with Viktor Gyökeres.

There is no bid forthcoming from PSG at the moment with only Al Ahli and Al Hilal looking as the only serious interested clubs but the 25-year-old is not interested in a move to the Saudi Pro League.

Thus, there is a possibility that the Nigeria international stays at Napoli unless a Premier League club turns up to pay his release clause.

Working with Conte could benefit Osimhen as the Italian tactician doesn’t only have a history of bringing the best out of strikers but also winning titles, particularly the Serie A which he has won four times.

Therefore, he may return to his prolific best and win more laurels under the 54-year-old.