Sky Sport Italia claim Victor Osimhen turned down the Chelsea transfer because they offered him €4m per season wages with another €4m in bonuses and will now be frozen out at Napoli, unless the Saudi Pro League come back in.
The striker had hoped that a big offer would be made in the final hours of the transfer window and the club did negotiate for with two different clubs, failing to reach an agreement.
More details are starting to emerge on what caused the talks with Chelsea to fall apart so spectacularly this evening.
Chelsea effectively halved Osimhen wages
Gianluca Di Marzio claims on Sky Sport Italia that the Stamford Bridge club had offered Osimhen just €4m per season wages – less than half his current €10m salary – plus another €4m in performance-related bonuses.
Specifically, €2m of them were connected to Chelsea qualifying for the Champions League and the other €2m on goals and appearances for the club.
The Nigeria international saw this as insulting and refused, especially as last season the Blues barely even managed to get into the Conference League, so the Champions League might be a stretch.
Italian sources had been clear for weeks, Osimhen would not accept a pay cut from the €10m per season he agreed with Napoli in December 2023.
He is also reported to be furious with Napoli for failing to agree a fee with Al-Ahli, where he was set to earn €40m per season with a release clause, because they asked for an extra €5m in add-ons on top of the €80m proposal.
Now Osimhen is in a situation where he has nowhere to go and Napoli do not want him, so he will be an outcast, training separately from the squad.
Their only hope at this point is that someone in the Saudi Pro League will come in before their transfer deadline on September 2 to get a deal over the line.
