What Chelsea now want to ‘clarify’ before starting negotiations for Victor Osimhen this summer - Romano

Napoli striker Victor Osimhen is one of Chelsea’s main targets heading into the summer transfer window.

It has been claimed that Chelsea actually have an eight-man shortlist of strikers with Victor Osimhen right at the top.

The Blues have Cole Palmer who has scored 16 goals in the Premier League this season, while Nicolas Jackson has nine.

However, it is quite clear that Mauricio Pochettino needs more than that, with his side currently sitting ninth in the table.

Chelsea do have games in hand, though. Win those, and Europa League football could be a serious possibility next term.

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What Chelsea want to clarify before making Victor Osimhen move

It has become public knowledge that Osimhen has a release clause in his contract.

However, Chelsea will have to do more than trigger it to sign the 25-year-old this summer.

According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, a deal will also depend on things like a signing-on fee and commissions and Chelsea want clarity on all of that before beginning negotiations for his signature.

On Chelsea and Osimhen, Romano stated on Substack: “The deal doesn’t just depend on the player’s salary, but also a signing-on fee, commissions, a really expensive release clause of between €120m/€130m… there are a lot of things to clarify.

“Chelsea want to make sure that they will have the budget clear before negotiating.”

Victor Osimhen could be worth the money

It is clear, then, that if Chelsea do plan to sign Osimhen in the next transfer window, the total financial package to land the Nigerian is going to have to be a huge one.

Looking at his form from last season, though, it could be worth it. Osimhen has not done anything incredible this term, but in the 2022/23 campaign, he scored 31 goals across all competitions.

Albeit an expensive one, the Napoli star could be the solution to one of many problems Chelsea have had: not having a consistent and prolific No.9.