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Chelsea told real reason for Victor Osimhen transfer failure
Cameron Smith
- 19 Mar 2026 12:15 GMT
- 4 min read
News
Chelsea missed out on the signing of Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen due to their salary offer, it has been confirmed.
The 27-year-old was heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge in both 2024 and 2025, but the Blues were unable to finalise an agreement and he joined Galatasaray on a permanent deal for €75 million last summer instead.
Current ETV
Victor Osimhen
F (C)
Galatasaray
Victor Osimhen
F (C)
Galatasaray
ETV Range
€69.3M - €84.8M
Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has previously revealed that a deal was close to being finalised with Osimhen, however it has now emerged that Liam Rosenior’s side were unable to sign the Nigeria international due to their incentivised wage structure.
Osimhen was handed a reported weekly salary of €290,000 upon his arrival at Galatasaray and this is a figure that Chelsea were simply not prepared to match.
In fact, according to European football expert Andy Brassell, Chelsea only offered Osimhen a third of his current Galatasaray wage, which is why the proposed deal collapsed.
Confirmed: Why Chelsea failed to sign Victor Osimhen
Speaking to talkSPORT, Brassell admitted: “If we go back to the beginning of when he left Lille for Napoli, Gennaro Gattuso [the Napoli manager at the time] took a wage cut so they could sign Osimhen, because they knew that not just to pay him a massive fee, but to pay him decent wages, that's what he was going to have to do.
“Look, it was a great gift of Gattuso to Napoli after it really worked out for Osmihen eventually under Luciano Spalletti at Napoli.
“I think that was one of the things that meant the discussions between Chelsea and Osimhen didn't really go that far. Because the top wage they would have offered him is probably about a third, maybe, of what he's getting at Galatasaray, but maybe not even that much.”
After missing out on Osimhen, Chelsea bolstered their centre forward roster with the signings of Joao Pedro and Liam Delap last summer, spending a combined €99.2m on the pair.
The former has scored 21 goals in 45 games since his arrival at Stamford Bridge, and has established himself as an integral player under Rosenior, but the latter has struggled to adapt to Chelsea’s system and he has been tipped to depart the club after just one season.
Chelsea have already finalised the summer signings of fellow strikers Emmanuel Emegha and Dastan Satpaev, from Strasbourg and Kairat Almaty respectively, while they have also been linked with a move for Atletico Madrid superstar Julian Alvarez, who is wanted by Arsenal and Barcelona.
Osimhen, meanwhile, has scored 19 goals and provided seven assists in 29 matches across all competitions so far this season, and his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) currently stands at €77m.
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