Chelsea ponders offering Lukaku and Casadei to lower Osimhen’s release clause
Embattled Napoli striker Victor Osimhen may still fulfill his ambition of playing in the English Premier League if Napoli accepts the latest players plus cash to sign the striker.
There are suggestions Chelsea could offer Romelu Lukaku and Cesare Casadei as part of a package deal to lower the cost of Osimhen.
The Nigeria international is frustrated at the lack of interest in the transfer market, as he only signed a new contract in December with the express and stated intention of leaving this summer.
The idea was to sell for his €130m release clause, but that is considered far too high by the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea, who instead looked at other targets.
Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid don’t seem particularly interested in Osimhen either.
Chelsea preparing a player exchange for Osimhen
With this in mind, TEAMtalk claims that Chelsea are talking to Napoli about various options to exchange players, which would bring down the overall cost of the operation.
Lukaku is the inevitable candidate, seeing as Napoli’s new coach Antonio Conte is desperate to reunite with the former Inter striker and he is not part of the plans at Stamford Bridge.
Armando Broja and Trevoh Chalobah were mentioned, but neither of them are of particular interest to the Partenopei.
A name that could well entice Conte is Casadei, the 21-year-old Italian midfielder who left Inter for €14.86m in 2022 and worked under Enzo Maresca on loan at Leicester City.
Napoli has lost Piotr Zielinski as a free agent to Inter, so Casadei would fill that role.
If Lukaku and Casadei were part of the deal, Chelsea would hope to pay only €60m cash for Osimhen.
