Chelsea's late attempts to sign Napoli forward Victor Osimhen are set to be hijacked by Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli, who have reached an agreement to sign the 25-year-old.
Mail Sport had reported earlier this week that the Saudi Arabian club had tabled a £55million bid for the Napoli striker, with Chelsea also having upped the ante to land their long-standing target.
Osimhen is now set to decide on whether to move to the Premier League or the Saudi Pro League, with the London outfit having held talks with his representatives on Wednesday to hash out a deal on his wages.
Chelsea had been looking to agree an initial loan deal with an option to buy the centre-forward while Napoli and Osimhen had also indicated that they would be willing to lower their demands to ensure a deal can be reached before the transfer window slams shut later on Friday evening.
It is understood that Osimhen, whose contract is due to expire in 2026 at the Serie A club, is looking to net weekly salary of around £500,000, an eye-watering figure.
Chelsea 's late attempts to sign Napoli forward Victor Osimhen are set to be hijacked by Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli
Mail Sport reported earlier this week that Chelsea had held talks with Osimhen's agents
The Saudi Arabian club had tabled a £55million bid for the Napoli striker, who is demanding a wage of £500,000-per-week
Interestingly, his agent, Roberto Calenda, posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter) earlier this week, in response to attempts to prise the striker away from Napoli.
Calenda wrote: 'Osimhen is a Napoli player, with a contract recently renewed with mutual satisfaction.
'He made history and when there were major offers (also this year) we always accepted the club's decisions. As I said, he is not a package to be shipped far away to make room for new prophets.
Earlier this week, his agent issued a statement online stating that
'Victor was elected African footballer of the year, eighth at the Ballon d'Or, he still has so much to do in Europe. There needs to be respect and balance.'
Chelsea, meanwhile, are keen to add another forward to their squad, with Mail Sport revealing on Wednesday that the Blues had an interest in signing Ivan Toney, who is in the last 12 months of his contract with Brentford.
Toney also has an offer from Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli, while Arsenal are interested in signing the forward - but had a £35 offer for the English striker rejected earlier in August.
Brentford are holding out for around £60m for the 28-year-old, who was omitted from Thomas Frank's squad to play in their Premier League opener against Crystal Palace.
The Bees boss had admitted his absence was due to uncertainty around his future.
'A deal is not close but we hope it will be. He has been one of our best players, if not our best player over a long spell. Like with any good player, one day they will leave,' he said.
'All the top players in the Premier League, one day they will leave the club and someone else needs to step up and do well.'