Osimhen falls behind Delap in Chelsea’s striker equation for these important reasons | OneFootball

Jon Obi Mikel was speaking on his podcast this week, and brought up one of his favourite topics – the future of his friend and countryman Victor Osimhen.

Chelsea have been linked with the Nigerian goal machine countless times over the years, and last year a deal felt really close as the Blues pushed to get something done. But in the end, they couldn’t agree terms with Napoli, they moved on, and Osimhen ended up going on loan to Galatasaray.

Mikel insists that the deal can be picked up from where it left off last summer, at least in terms of personal terms with Osimhen. With another season chipped off his contract, Napoli are more likely to be willing to negotiate too.

Former Chelsea midfielder Mikel insists it’s an easy deal to do, if we want him:

“He wants to play for Chelsea. I know where we stopped in terms of the contract, I know where we are. It’s an easy fix, because we’ve done all the hard work last summer,” Mikel explained on his podcast.

Mikel misses the main reason Osimhen isn’t already at Chelsea

Liam Delap celebrates a goal. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

We have no doubt that’s true, but it misses a crucial point – Chelsea stopped the process of signing Osimhen last summer for a reason, and there’s no indication yet that those reasons will have changed.

It still seems far more likely that Liam Delap is our prime target, given he has a fixed release clause which makes buying more straightforward, given he knows Enzo Maresca from their shared time in the Manchester City academy, and given he’s much younger and likely to demand more reasonable wages.

A move for Osimhen isn’t impossible, but we’d wager we will only go after him once our options with the likes of Delap are exhausted.