Having hogged countless column inches with increasingly frantic speculation over a summer move to a famous European club – which in fairness was not his fault, and entirely ours - Victor Osimhen looks poised to do the old switcheroo and sign a contract extension with the Italian champions, Napoli, instead.
Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United and Chelsea were among the raft of clubs linked with the Nigeria international, whose goals helped fire the Partenopei to their third Scudetto last season. Sky Italia report Napoli want a €200m (£171m) release clause included in the terms of the new deal, while Osimhen and his people are aiming for a more modest €150m.
Hapless Chelsea are also bracing themselves to be disappointed in their pursuit of Roma’s Paulo Dybala. The Argentina international, who spent seven years at Juventus, is reportedly ready to sign a new three-year contract that will make him one of the Giallorossi’s highest-paid players. The Blues have also had an opening £24m offer for Montpellier’s Elye Wahi rejected, according to the Evening Standard.
In yet another transfer market bungle by Todd Boehly’s team, Chelsea are ready to pay the £35m release clause in Michael Olise’s Crystal Palace contract, a player they released when he was 14. The skilful 21-year-old is also attracting interest from Manchester City, however, who are said to see Olise as an ideal replacement for Al-Hilal-bound winger Riyad Mahrez.
On the plus side for Mauricio Pochettino, in his efforts to augment an already packed changing room, the Ecuador international Moises Caicedo is reportedly “determined” to push for a move to Stamford Bridge. The Seagulls have already rebuffed a £70m offer for the midfielder. The 19-year-old Romeo Lavia of Southampton is seen as another credible option: the Saints want at least £50m and Liverpool are also keen.
Over on TwitterX, Fabrizio Romano reports that Fulham have tabled a £4m bid for Callum Hudson-Odoi. Chelsea would prefer something like £8m, according to Romano, but the Cottagers are confident of getting a deal done for the youngster who struggled to make an impact on loan at Bayer Leverkusen last season.
Another Romano-powered story to break this morning is that Liverpool’s Fabinho is definitely (probably) off to Al-Ittihad. Liverpool are “cautious” about the transfer going through as documentation needs to be done, but a three-year deal has been agreed between player and potential new club. Fabrizio also tells us that Marco Verratti is poised to leave PSG and sign for Al-Hilal.
As reported by David Hytner in these pages, Bayern Munich executives are due to jet into London today to continue their pursuit of the Tottenham and England goal machine Harry Kane. The worry for Bayern is that pesky Paris Saint-Germain are lurking in the wings clutching a blank cheque.
Bayern are also interested in snapping up David de Gea, reports The Times: the Spanish goalkeeper is without a club following the end of his long stay at Manchester United. Why pursue one Spanish goalie when you could pursue two? Bayern are also keen on Brentford gloveman David Raya, the same report states.
Manchester United’s money men are continuing discussions with Fiorentina over a move for Sofyan Amrabat, while last and arguably least, perennial misfit and Everton reject James Rodríguez is about to join Sao Paulo on a free transfer, bringing to an end a season-long stay at Olympiacos.
