Transfer market expert Gianluca Di Marzio has claimed that Victor Osimhen is likely to move to the English Premier League in the summer transfer window amid suggestions that French champions Paris Saint-Germain are the frontrunners for his signature.
The Nigeria international extended his contract last December until 2026, with a release clause in the region of 130 million euros inserted into the deal.
Paris Saint-Germain are targeting Osimhen as a replacement for Kylian Mbappé whose love affair with the capital club will surely come to an end in June.
The reigning African Footballer of the Year has Ligue 1 experience, making 27 appearances for Lille over the course of the 2019-2020 season and scored 13 goals in the division.
Hypothetically speaking, PSG were installed as favourites to sign Osimhen because they have a good relationship with Napoli, coupled with the fact that their football advisor Luis Campos recruited the former Golden Eaglets striker for Lille in 2019 after scouting the striker for about four years.
Gianluca Di Marzio has insisted that Osimhen would prefer a move to either Chelsea or Arsenal and uninterested in returning to Ligue 1, having already experienced it with Lille.
In quotes relayed by Spazio Napoli, he said: “I’m not so convinced that Osimhen goes to PSG, he has already played in France with Lille, logical, PSG is something else and would allow you to face matches like the Champions League semi-final, but his preference was and remains England. Chelsea and Arsenal are two clubs that could grab Osimhen.”
Chelsea are reportedly directly in talks with incoming Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna, who wants the Blues to use Romelu Lukaku as makeweight in the proposed deal for Osimhen.
“Manna has already been talking with Chelsea for a while, the next sporting director’s idea would be to set up a negotiation like the one that went on for weeks between Juventus and the Blues for Vlahovic.
“He is therefore trying to understand what the margins are to get to Lukaku, who would become Osimhen’s replacement,” Gianluca Di Marzio concluded.
