Chelsea appear to be preparing a bid to sign Victor Osimhen after Romelu Lukaku confirmed his desire to stay at Inter Milan. The Belgium international will return from his loan in the summer and, while he has a three-year contract to honour at Stamford Bridge, an exit seems increasingly likely.
Lukaku, who joined the Blues for £97.5million in 2021, has featured 22 times for Inter Milan in the Serie A this season, directly contributing towards 13 goals. While the 29-year-old initially struggled to find his feet, he's impressed recently and looked set to be given a second chance to redeem himself in west London.
However, a third bite of the cherry at Chelsea doesn't seem to be on the agenda, leaving the expected incoming Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino without a world-class striker upon his arrival. Following Inter's win over Empoli last month, Lukaku discussed his future.
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"I have an excellent relationship with the fans and I’ve always tried to give everything for Inter because it gave me the opportunity to win two years ago," said the Belgian. "This club has allowed me to become who I am today."
Then, when asked if he wanted to stay at Inter, Lukaku replied: "Yes, but guys you have to pay attention to those things. My goal is to give my best for Inter."
With Chelsea in desperate need of a talisman, football.london understands that a striker is a position which is being looked at ahead of the summer transfer window. It's believed that Osimhen is one of the numerous names being considered by the Blues.
Speaking on BT Sport last month, Rio Ferdinand insisted that the west Londoners must sign a new striker after they struggled to beat Thibaut Courtois when they played real Madrid in the Champions League, despite plenty of opportunities. The former Manchester United defender said: "They don’t score enough goals, that’s obvious.
"That team that started the game had 17 goals between them for the season – [Karim] Benzema outscored that completely on his own, so that tells you where they’re at. Today in the first half they created chances, they had arguably the best chances in the first half, but they just didn’t have anyone to put the ball in the net and that’s been an issue.
"Recruitment in the summer is going to be massive for this football club - as much as they want to get players, to get people out. They’ve got to get players out to make sure there’s room to bring players in."
According to Sky Sports Germany, Chelsea are joined by Manchester City, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain in the race to sign Osimhen, with various talks already having taken place. It's said that the Premier League champions have enquired about Osimhen, despite having welcomed Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez to the Etihad Stadium in the summer.
Sky Sports add that Napoli could demand at least €100million (£88m) for the 24-year-old's signature. Todd Boehly has previously demonstrated that he has no issue in splashing the cash, but west Londoners are without European football next season – and this could very much be an issue for potential transfer targets such as Osimhen.
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