'Osimhen has had one good season for Napoli'
- Published
Italian football expert James Horncastle says Chelsea target Victor Osimhen "is often injured" and has only "had one good season" at Napoli.
The Blues go into transfer deadline day still heavily linked with a move for the 25-year-old Nigeria striker with reports that a potential loan with obligation to buy deal, external may make the move easier to complete.
"If you want to be paid more money and you sign a contract in December which has a £130m buyout clause then the president of Napoli always stands by the price he sets," Horncastle told the Football Daily Euro Leagues podcast.
"That's a stumbling block. You've got the fact that Osimhen's agent put out that he still sees himself playing in Europe at a club that is bigger than Napoli, but those teams are baulking at the price tag.
"You've got Chelsea, who have already spent a lot of money - and Premier League clubs are preoccupied by PSR like never before. But you also have the fact Osimhen has had one good season for Napoli. Yes, it was the season they won the league for the first time since 1990 and he was the top scorer, but the reality is he is often injured.
"If you look at his stats, before that he scored 14 league goals and he has only been available for a third of the games. If you're not there to start between 30 and 38 games a season, and you've got Afcon in January quite often, it is something clubs look at.
"I think that was the big thing last season - can you back up what you did in the title winning season? He didn't and I think that is a real problem when it comes to clubs looking at him this year.
"There is a £130m release clause Napoli's owner wants to get close to but he's probably not worth half that. That's why clubs coming to Naples at this moment are the Saudi clubs."
