Chelsea now ahead of Arsenal in race for £100m superstar as Arteta eyes two Prem talents

Arsenal’s pursuit of Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo has handed Premier League rivals Chelsea and Man Utd a boost in their bid to sign Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, according to ESPN journalist Jon Molyneux-Carter.

Osimhen has been extremely impressive for Napoli this season, scoring 22 goals in 27 Serie A games on the way to his side’s first title win since 1990.

His form has not gone unnoticed with a host of top clubs around Europe interested in signing him this summer.

The Nigerian international is expected to cost an absolute fortune, which has all but ruled out German champions Bayern Munich – who are instead expected to pursue Eintracht Frankfurt hitman Randal Kolo Muani.

A move to the Premier League seems the most likely scenario for Osimhen, due to the spending power of the top clubs in England.

Man Utd and Chelsea are in dire need of a new No. 9 and are both being linked to a similar bunch of players – including Osimhen.

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Arsenal have quite surprisingly been linked with the 24-year-old as well.

Mikel Arteta’s side are expected to pursue a new midfielder this summer, however, with West Ham and England star Declan Rice said to be their top priority.

Rice should cost at least £80million – which will obviously be quite a large chunk of the Gunners’ transfer budget – meaning the signing of a big-money striker is unlikely.

Should Arteta look to bring in a new forward, it could be someone like Raphinha, who the Londoners tried to sign last year before he joined Barcelona from Leeds.

And with Arsenal prioritising midfield reinforcements, Man Utd and Chelsea have both been given the edge in their bid to bring in Osimhen, as per ESPN.

Writing on their website, journalist Jon Molyneux-Carter said: ‘Arsenal have had a great season and have also been linked with Osimhen, but are more likely to bring in a central midfielder.

‘The club nearly spent £70m to land Brighton’s Moises Caicedo in January and could return for him, or turn attention to West Ham’s Declan Rice instead.’

Molyneux-Carter says that Chelsea will ‘almost certainly’ look to bring in a striker this summer and should be willing to spend ‘big money’ despite their huge outlay on first-team talent over the last year.

Amidst interest from the Blues, Man Utd, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, Osimhen is expected to cost ‘upwards of €130m’.

One of Chelsea’s biggest struggles this season has been their inability to put the ball in the back of the net.

Despite spending around £600m on several new players, the club’s recruitment team failed to bring in an out-and-out goalscorer.

In fact, the only natural striker they signed was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is well past his best and has barely played since the turn of the year.

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