Napoli suffered another blow in their hopes to sell Victor Osimhen in a swap deal with Romelu Lukaku, with reports Chelsea are instead focusing on Atletico Madrid striker Samu Omorodion.
The Partenopei cannot bring in Antonio Conte’s first choice Lukaku until Osimhen has been sold and so far nobody is going anywhere near to the €120m release clause in his contract.
Even with the price lowered to €100m plus bonuses, there are still no takers, with Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal looking elsewhere.
Omorodion preferred to Osimhen for Chelsea
They had hoped to get an exchange with Chelsea for Lukaku, but now transfer pundits Gianluca Di Marzio and Fabrizio Romano maintain that the Stamford Bridge side has instead gone for Atletico Madrid forward Omorodion.
The Spain Under-21 international only turned 20 in May and spent last season on loan at Deportivo Alaves, but has made it clear he wants to remain with Atleti.
He had also been linked with Roma and Milan earlier in the summer, but would be available for €50m.
Romano claims the initial proposal is just €35m, which will not be enough to convince player or club.
At the same time, the Corriere dello Sport had reported yesterday that Osimhen was not exactly enthusiastic about the idea of joining Chelsea anyway.