Manchester United have opened the way for Chelsea to sign Napoli sensation Victor Osimhen this summer. The Nigerian striker has excelled in Italy this season, scoring 26 goals and providing a further five assists in just 33 appearances across all competitions.
Napoli are all-but Serie A champions with the Nigeria international being a standout performer, resulting in the likes of United, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich being linked with making a move for the 24-year-old. Former Blues boss Jose Mourinho compared Osimhen to Chelsea icon Didier Drogba but offered some advice to the striker on how to secure a move to the Premier League.
The west Londoners are in need of a goalscoring No.9 after Kai Havertz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have failed to show they are capable of firing the Blues to winning trophies and challenging for the Premier League title this term. football.london understands Christopher Nkunku has signed a pre-contract agreement ahead of a summer move to Stamford Bridge from RB Leipzig this summer.
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Nkunku can play anywhere in attack but is not seen as an outright centre-forward, despite his impressive goalscoring record in the Bundesliga. Todd Boehly has spent over £600million since completing a £4billion takeover at Chelsea, yet has failed to sign a world-class striker to fix the Blues' goalscoring problems.
As quoted by Goal, the Mourinho said: "He [Osimhen] is of the same level as Drogba, but Didier didn’t dive. If Victor changes, then OK.
"I’d buy him if I was at a club with a lot of money. However, if he does go to England one day, he needs to change, because in Italy they put up with this sort of behaviour, whereas in the Premier League, they’d come down hard on him."
Now it seems that Chelsea's Premier League rivals United have given the green light for Boehly to pursue a deal for Osimhen with Napoli valuing their star striker in the region of £100million. According to Sky Germany, Erik ten Hag's side are currently pushing the hardest to sign Eintracht Frankfurt's Randal Kolo Muani this summer instead of the Napoli star.
United are in the market for a new striker after mutually agreeing to terminate Cristiano Ronaldo's contract at Old Trafford prior to the World Cup in Qatar. Marcus Rashford has carried the burden of scoring goals for the Manchester outfit this term and Ten Hag wants to bring in extra support for the England international ahead of next season.
The report adds that Ten Hag 'ranks' Kolo Muani higher than Osimhen, suggesting he could very well be the Dutchman's first choice. The Frenchman has scored 20 goals and registered 14 assists in 40 appearances since joining Frankfurt on a free transfer last summer.
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