Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has broken his silence on the club’s failure to sign Napoli’s star striker Victor Osimhen this summer.
Osimhen has been dramatically banished from the Napoli first-team after a big-money switch to Chelsea collapsed in the final moments of the transfer window.
Chelsea pushed hard to sign Osimhen before Friday’s 11pm deadline – but talks broke down at the last minute over personal terms in a major blow to Maresca.
The Blues were ultimately unwilling to meet Osimhen’s demands, despite selling Romelu Lukaku to Napoli in the other direction, and have since decided to extend Nicolas Jackson’s contract instead.
Chelsea boss Maresca, speaking after Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace, was quizzed about the club missing out on Osimhen and hinted they may revisit the deal in January.
‘We want players, but we wanted a player that we decide,’ Maresca said in his post-match press conference after Chelsea gained a point at Stamford Bridge.
‘It has to be on our conditions. If a player is not here, then it was not. We will see in January.’
Maresca insists he has full faith in current Chelsea striker Jackson – who scored in the draw against Palace – amid the west Londoners’ failure to bring in Osimhen.
‘I had faith, and the club also, even before [in Jackson],’ Maresca added. ‘We trust Nicolas. When the transfer window was open, I said he was doing fantastic with us.
‘The only thing I know is he’s signing a new contract – I don’t know how many years.
‘I’m very happy. Nicolas is doing a fantastic job with us. He scored again. He had more chances but we’re happy with him.’
Jackson squandered an injury-time one-on-one against Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson and the Senegal international has explained why he couldn’t convert.
‘It was a great chance to win the game,’ Jackson told the Chelsea website. ‘It was the last minute, I was a little bit tired, but I made the run and hopefully next time I will score one like this.’
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