Exclusive: €120m striker an option for Chelsea next summer as hierarchy not fully sold on Ivan Toney

Posted Wednesday, November 15, 2023 by Caughtoffside.com

Chelsea will be in the market for a top striker in 2024 and the Blues may get one of the best in Europe as Mauricio Pochettino looks to take his team to another level.

The West London club brought Nicolas Jackson to England this summer but the 22-year-old is still raw and it has been clear throughout the opening part of the campaign that the forward is not ready to lead the Blues’ line.

Therefore, Pochettino wants a World-class striker in 2024 and Napoli’s Victor Osimhen could be the man as the Premier League club’s hierarchy are not fully sold on Brentford’s Ivan Toney, states transfer expert Ben Jacobs.

Osimhen has grown into one of the best strikers in Europe over the last two seasons and the best is yet to come as the Nigerian star is still only 24 years old.

Victor Osimhen is liked by Chelsea

Writing in his exclusive Daily Briefing column for CaughtOffside, Ben Jacobs has given an insight into Chelsea’s striker targets for next year and has provided an update on the future of Osimhen.

“Osimhen is keen on a Premier League move and has spoken about how as a kid he owned both a Chelsea and Manchester United shirt, and used to watch Didier Drogba videos on YouTube to try and improve his game,” the journalist said.

“Chelsea will be looking for an elite striker in 2024. They are prepared to wait until summer if they need to rather than move in January. There are a lot of links with Ivan Toney, but the price Brentford would require in January makes that quite difficult. It could be as high as £80m. And not everyone in Chelsea’s senior leadership or recruitment team feels Toney is the right choice, especially mid-season when he’s gone so long without playing.

“Osimhen is undoubtedly an option, and he’ll be (a least a bit) cheaper next summer compared to last. This could also present a scenario where, as with Christopher Nkunku, Chelsea try to pre-sign Osimhen in January for the summer in order to jump ahead of the market.

“But right now nothing is advanced because all interested clubs are simply trying to understand what Aurelio De Laurentiis will sell for since last summer he simply wouldn’t engage for anything under €150m. Now he may accept €120m.”