It sounds like Chelsea are now definitively out of the race to striker sign Victor Osimhen from Napoli.
Things have been heading that way for a while – last week we wrote up the news that the club had been so impressed by Nicolas Jackson’s progress that they had decided to back off in their pursuit of established, elite, peak age players like Osimhen and Viktor Gyokeres in favour of younger options.
And now it’s being actively reported, with CaughtOffside claiming that the Blues have “decided to step back” from chasing their long term target, ending a long-running saga. Last summer felt like the closest we ever got to him, as we were still keen to find ready made solution up top, but the Italian side’s demands proved too much, and in the end nobody took the leap. Osimhen was ultimately loaned out to Galatasaray for the season, where he’s shown his quality by scoring 28 in 32 games.
Chelsea take another gamble on youth up front
On the one hand, this makes sense in terms of Chelsea’s recruitment model. They are keen on younger options with upside and sell on value. Osimhen does not provide that; while someone like Benjamin Sesko or Liam Delap could end up being just as good and costing less.
On the other hand, after seeing this side struggle for goals for so many years does make us reluctant to write off the idea of getting someone in who as close to a sure thing as you’ll get in terms of hitting the ground running and being a consistent goalscorer from day one.
It will be particularly brutal if Osimhen goes somewhere like Manchester United and instantly solves their scoring problems. But let’s not worry about that until it happens.
Miss Osimhen again and he will end up punishing you dearly when your rivals snap him.
Do you honestly believe that Osimhen is worth the price tag, and, if so, based on what? For a guy (SuperFrank) who loves to question the hierarchy at every turn, you seldom see him actually grapple with the real world trade offs that MUST actually be confronted in the real world. Osimhen is starring in a third-tier league and yet his price tag is still that if someone who is a scoring leader in a top league. And when you have a Nicolas Jackson who’s a demonstrated 12-15 goal/year performer then what you’re paying for in someone like Osimhen is the ability to score some marginal number more goals. So the analysis has to be (a) can Osimhen outperform Jackson by a considerable margin; and (b) how much are you paying for each of those additional goals (2m, 5m, 10m…)? Instead, what we get from SuperFrank is the usual non-analytical “I reserve the right to gripe later when things don’t come up roses because I insinuated earlier that we should have bought Osimhen even though I never really put forth a full-throated argument with some actual evidence.” It’s a pattern that’s as predictable as it is annoying, but what’s new?
As for me, I say “no” to Osimhen. He’s over-priced for someone who hasn’t been playing too competition and we’d be better off looking toward a younger option (perhaps Sesko?) who fits a profile that contrasts with Jackson.
Your write up is flopped with prejudice. Had it been Osimen is a white guy, no doubt many European clubs would have offset him from the snare of Napoli. Or what more qualities does clubs wanted in strikers than what the guy has displayed sofar in the respective leagues he has played ? And this should be a wake up call for the Africans to
pay more attention to the development of its football career in the continent.
Osimhen is the best striker among all the strikers available on the market. We want tested and proven and Osimhen will give u that.