The potential future of striker Victor Osimhen has long been debated on the transfer rumour mill given his performances for Italian Serie A side Napoli in more recent seasons. Whether predictable or not given Chelsea’s transfer spend since Todd Boehly walked through the door, we have previously been linked with a move for him and now former player John Obi Mikel is on record as saying his preference is a move to Stamford Bridge.
The 25 year old, 35 capped Nigerian international has scored 21 goals for his country following his debut, and for Napoli he has found the net 72 times in 122 appearances and was an absolutely integral part of their side as they lifted the Serie A title for the first time since the 1989/90 campaign and few on Bettors Tanzania would have seen that coming given their performances in previous seasons, but fair play where it is due, the odds were right.
Napoli president, Aurelio de Laurentiis, is already on record as stating that their star striker will be moving on at the end of the season, and he is on record as confirming that there was a guaranteed release clause in his existing deal – media speculation suggests that this lies between 120 million Euros and a 130 million Euros.
Laurenttis went further by saying he had three realistic destinations. French Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain, Spanish La Liga giants Real Madrid, or an unnamed English Premier League team which has long been rumoured to be Chelsea.
With Mikel sharing a close relationship with the attacking talent, there are certainly plenty of fans in the wider world of football who will believe he more than has an insight into things here, but looking at his words as he spoke at the Web Summit Qatar on Thursday, his words are not quite as concrete as he makes them sound.
As much as I would like the deal to go through given our very mixed, and incredibly expensive business in recent windows, it sounds like a Speaking Tour joke to engage the audience.
“I’m still Osimhen’s agent, trying to get him to Chelsea! I’ve got 20 per cent of that deal, so I hope it works out!”
That is obviously the headline comment to come out of his words, but greater truth might lie in what he followed up with when questioned if this was in anyway a ‘genuine possibility’.
He admitted that there was interest on both sides, but a deal was nowhere near being completed. He further admitted that Osimhen has a soft spot for us and would love to play in our colours – but there was no clarification on whether than was an immediate desire, or simply a career aim before he hung up his boots.
“Obviously, he wants to follow my footsteps as a Nigerian player who has played for Chelsea – Victor Moses, Celestine Babayaro, not a lot of us. I’m still pushing, sending him messages, trying to make sure he doesn’t expect to much, narrow you’re mind on one club – the Blues.”
Mikel continued to say he was trying his best to convince him to make the move as he knows that right now, we are struggling for a proper punch up front from a central striker, and our goalscoring options come from elsewhere.
For him, Osimhen, is the perfect player to completely lead the line for us in the years to come, given the talents that he clearly has and his strike record throughout his career so far.
Mikel focused on the fact that he felt he could very easily be a 20 to 25 a season kind of threat once he adjusted to our game, given the differences that exist in Italy’s Serie A competition.
His record is phenomenal, he clearly has great talent and he could absolutely be a great asset to manager Mauricio Pochettino (if he lasts that long) but the issue from our point of view is does Financial Fair Play allow us that kind of wriggle room without significant sales now.
Manchester City have kicked their can down the road, but Everton have come front and square with punishments, even allowing for their small win. Nobody truly knows where we stand right right now as we have massively overspent on future potential, and whilst it will eventually come together, we have to balance the books and then we have to wonder how long that will actually take.
This season is what it is, next season is ultimately anyone’s guess.