Victor Osimhen frozen out at Napoli after failed transfer to Chelsea or Saudi Arabia

Victor Osimhen has found himself frozen out of the Napoli first team after failing to secure a transfer away from the Serie A club.

The Nigeria striker was the subject of interest on Friday from both Chelsea and the Saudi Pro League, yet no deal materialised before the Premier League and Italian transfer deadlines.

The Blues did not sign a striker on deadline day, favoring instead a loan deal with an obligation to buy for Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho, who replaced Arsenal-bound Raheem Sterling.

The Saudi window is open a little while longer, but there is no obvious interest from any of the major clubs in signing Osimhen. Al Ahli made an offer for the 25-year-old but eventually signed Ivan Toney from Brentford instead. They would need to sell a foreign player in order to make space in the squad for Osimhen at this stage.

For now, it appears the Super Eagles striker will not be playing any club football any time soon.

Osimhen has been left off Napoli’s official squad list for the 2024/25 season in Serie A, meaning he will not be playing under Antonio Conte.

The former Chelsea coach pushed for a deal to bring in Romelu Lukaku, who scored on his debut for the Partenopei this week, and is therefore in no rush to bring back Osimhen, who hit 26 league goals to propel his team to the Scudetto two seasons ago.

“We did not just bring in players to build on an existing team, but to fill certain empty slots, and I am happy with the work done by the club,” said Conte.

“If we had been able to sell Osimhen, it would’ve been an even better situation, but what happened cannot be changed and we move on.”