English Premier league side, Chelsea,  have   renewed  the race to prise away Nigeria International striker  Victor Osimhen  from Italian Serie A side Napoli  after  they reportedly  hijacked Arsenal’s deal for Ukraine star Mykhailo Mudryk at the weekend.

The Blues will pay a total of €100m (£88.5m) for the  22-year-old Ukraine international with €70m (£62m) up front and €30m (£26.5m) in add-ons.

Arsenal, according to British tabloid, Metro, were  favourites to land Mudryk  this January transfer window  and the player was keen on a move to the Emirates but the Gunners were not prepared to pay his price tag while Chelsea also offered him a much more lucrative contract.

But our correspondent  gathered  that  Chelsea  must be ready to cough out a staggering £180m (about N99,641,309,220.00) to  equally  snatch  the Nigerian  striker from  other willing  EPL sides  including Manchester United and Arsenal.

On Friday, Osimhen  yet proved  he’s one of the hottest strikers in Europe  after he grabbed a brace  in  Napoli’s  flattering 5-1 home win against Juventus  to take hi season’s tally  to impressive 12 goals.

“Chelsea scouts watched him ( Osimhen ) against  Juventus few days ago,” a  top UK-based football intermediary told Nation Sport last night.“ In fact, the board have  been briefed on his situation.

“But the issue is  that Napoli President , Aurelio De Laurentiis, wants a record bid for Osimhen and has since   raised  the transfer  fee for Osimhem  from £85m to at least £180m or thereabouts.”

With  their first Serie A title in sight  since the 1989/90 season following  Friday’s massacre of Juventus, it remains to be seen  if Napoli  can let  go  Osimhen amid media adulations for the 24-year-old  former Lille star.

He continued: “ The truth is that Chelsea  are ready to splash the cash to get Osimhen but the only snag  is that Laurentiis feels  Osimhen  is the best striker in the world now and  believed  he can get an offer that should supersede  the Serie A transfer record of €117m Juventus paid  Real Madrid for  Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018.”

 “Chelsea needs a striker in the mould of  their legend, Didier  Drogba  and  they  feel Osimhen fits the bill perfectly following his  spectacular performances for Napoli especially this season.

 “ In fact, the Chelsea hierarchy needs assurance that he (Osimhen)  will not struggle in the EPL and the  scouts are sure he won’t because he’ been  playing  against some tough  defenders in Italy,”  he added.