Fabrizio Romano has just given a small afternoon update on two Chelsea related strikers circling around Serie A.
The idea of a Romelu Lukaku – Victor Osimhen swap deal has been circulating in recent days, and one can see why. Chelsea want a number 9 – but not Lukaku, who they already own. Napoli want to sell Osimhen, and will need to replace him.
Sadly, these swap deals are almost always fantasy, especially when you’re talking about big players on big money like this. Romano says the swap was “never really considered” and that Chelsea’s line is clear “£38m price tag, take it or leave it.”
He adds that Osimhen is not on our list of summer transfer window targets, likely simply because of the vast transfer fee and wages it would take to bring him in. In theory a swap deal would help with both of those issues, but once again we see the evidence that they’re simply too tricky to pull off.
🔵❌ More on Chelsea and Osimhen.
The swap deal with Romelu Lukaku was never really considered by Chelsea, as their stance on Lukaku is clear: £38m price tag, take it or leave it.
Osimhen, currently not on #CFC list of summer transfer window targets. https://t.co/FUJKKeuwPJ
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 1, 2024
Chelsea keep a consistent line on wantaway forward
To be fair to Chelsea, they’ve at least kept a consistent line on their dealings with Lukaku. They have had plenty of chances to usher him out of the back door and just move on, but they’ve insisted on not losing out on a potential penny.
It’s been clear pretty much since the day of that fateful Sky Italia interview that the club aren’t going to get anything close to what they paid for him back, and that amount only drops with every passing window, but the club are refusing to be bullied into letting him go cheap.
Now the sums we want are dropping into the £30m range, let’s hope that the striker starts to pick up serious interest in a transfer in a way we simply didn’t see when he was being priced at £40m and above.
