Chelsea confident they will get Osimhen despite not qualifying for Champions League

ENGLISH football giants Chelsea are confident they can sign Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen during the summer transfer window despite it being unlikely that the club will play in the Uefa Champions League next season.

Osimhen, 24, who has 21 goals in 23 games for Serie A leaders Napoli this season, is arguably the hottest striker in world football at the moment. Several of Europe's bug clubs including Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United are all understood to have made contact with the striker's representatives but Chelsea is confident it will get its man.

Moving to London is of interest to Osimhen as he would like to follow in the footsteps of his childhood idol, Ivorian striker Didier Drogba, who is fondly remembered as one of Chelsea's all-time greats. Chelsea believe that this along with the fact that there are prepared to blow all the other rivals out of the water with a huge club-record bid, should ensure they are the ones who end up signing Osimhen.

Manchester United remain in contact with Osimhen's agent but appear to be more focused on signing Tottenham striker Harry Kane. Bayern, for their part are not expected to be prepared to pay the same sort of money that Chelsea would in pursuit of Osimhen, while as for PSG, uncertainty over the future of manager Christophe Galtier has affected transfer matters.

Osimhen's purchase would be partly funded by a number of sales, with the likes of Conor Gallagher, Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech all likely to leave Stamford Bridge this summer. Mason Mount could also be sold this summer if he continues to decline a contract extension, although Chelsea are confident about securing his future ahead of a fresh round of talks.

Chelsea are keen to overhaul their struggling forward line and have already wrapped up a deal for RB Leipzig's Christopher Nkunku but the Frenchman is seen as a better fit for the position behind a central striker, so they want to team the duo up. Napoli has placed a €150m price tag on Osimhen and are unlikely to budge from this figure.