Former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has been reportedly appointed by SSC Napoli as their manager, per Fabrizio Romano, and has set his sights on his first transfer target.
Conte has targeted Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku, who was recently on a loan spell at AS Roma, as someone he would like the club to sign per Sacha Tavolieri. Lukaku has a £38m release clause in his contract this summer that would allow clubs to acquire the services of the Belgian International.
What will Napoli do about Victor Osimhen?
There has been a lot of transfer speculation regarding Osimhen, especially with Chelsea. There were rumblings that Chelsea and Napoli were working on a swap deal including Osimhen and Lukaku, but these rumors were immediately shut down by Romano. It has actually come out in recent days that Chelsea are not working on a deal for Osimhen and will not go for him this summer, but Napoli’s interest in Lukaku remains.
Is there any chance Lukaku stays at Chelsea?
There is a slim chance that Lukaku is still a Chelsea player by the end of the summer transfer window. There is likely a reason that the sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, have made this release clause effective this summer for Lukaku: to make his exit as easy as possible.
There were some murmurs last summer when Inter Milan came back and made a move for Lukaku after his very successful loan spell there during the 2022/23 season, but it ended up with Lukaku at Roma this year.