Chelsea have been handed a blow in their pursuit of Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and may be forced to rush a deal for the striker, according to TEAMtalk.

The club have been screaming out for an experienced No.9 to help them collect more points and climb the Premier League table.

Osimhen is loved by the club and has been the favourite on the list of potentials for over a year. However, pressure may be applied for them to move quickly as several clubs line up a summer approach for the frontman.

Arsenal have eyes for the Nigerian and Mikel Arteta as well as sporting director Edu are both keen to make an audacious attempt to bring him to the Emirates Stadium. Sources in Spain are also suggesting Real Madrid are monitoring his situation and could be tempted to move.

This is a story that Chelsea have read before. When they signed Enzo Fernandez from Benfica in the January window of 2023 they were forced to move for the Argentine midfielder when it became apparent that there were many suitors for his signature the following summer.

Therefore, Blues bosses may be forced to move in the winter window to get ahead of the chasing pack. This would bring a very tricky negotiation with Napoli, who are shrewd with their business and will not sell below their valuation under any circumstances.

When Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali get involved a deal usually gets done. They stepped in during the Moises Caicedo saga in the summer and managed to get a very difficult deal over the line.

A huge winter deal of around £120million could happen if Chelsea feel the move is threatened. Furthermore, those close to the striker suggest he is interested in a move to the London side.

Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Victor Osimhen

Manchester United are interested in Brentford striker Ivan Toney and Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi, reports the Daily Mail.

The Red Devils are keen to add more homegrown players to their squad in the upcoming windows, though they could face competition from Arsenal and Chelsea for the 27-year-old Toney who will return to action in January following his ban.

A move for Guehi could also be difficult to complete in the middle of the season, with the Eagles looking for a fee in the region of £60m.

Meanwhile, according to 90min, he is keen to remain with Crystal Palace until the summer transfer window to boost his chances of making England’s squad for Euro 2024.

The 23-year-old, a graduate of Chelsea’s academy, has shone since leaving Stamford Bridge in 2021, racking up close to 100 appearances for Palace and claiming a regular place as a backup in Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, Ivan Toney, Manchester United, Marc Guehi

Arsenal have rejected an approach from an unnamed Premier League club for Aaron Ramsdale.

Football London revealed it came from a bottom half Premier League team.

Bayern and Chelsea are also reported to be interested in signing the stoppper.

Ramsdale nearly made a couple of costly errors with his feet during the game, but ultimately kept a clean sheet as Arsenal claimed a 1-0 win.

However, there remain questions about a potential January move after comments from his dad, Nick, earlier this month in which he said his son had “lost that smile”.

And Football London are now reporting an unnamed Premier League club have seen their approach for the keeper rejected.

Although the team was not named, it was confirmed it is a side in the bottom half of the table.

Ramsdale only signed a new contract with Arsenal back in May – which runs until 2026.

He was brought in by Mikel Arteta from Sheffield United in 2021 for £30million.

But Raya’s arrival has disrupted Ramsdale’s development at the Emirates – with the Stoke-on-Trent-born keeper also continuing to play second fiddle to Jordan Pickford for England.

Tags: Aaron Ramsdale, Arsenal, Chelsea

Brentford are determined to keep forward Ivan Toney in January, according to the Daily Mirror, dealing a blow to the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea.

Toney, who has just 18 months left on his contract, is serving an eight-month ban for breaking FA betting rules but will be eligible to play again in January.

The 27-year-old has been open about his desire to play in the Champions League and become a regular feature in the England squad, but the Bees are insistent that he will stay.

Brentford manager Thomas Frank is ready to welcome the striker back into the first team once his ban is completed and has even said they would back him with a new deal.

That being said, Brentford will let him move on for the right price, which was £60 million when Arsenal were last interested and might now be as high as £100m.

It is unlikely that Toney will be allowed to leave West London in January, due to Brentford losing several players including Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Frank Onyeka to the Africa Cup of Nations.

Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, Ivan Toney

Arsenal teenager Chido Obi-Martin had a day to remember as he scored a remarkable 10 goals for his side in their 14-3 win against Liverpool Under-16s on Saturday.

Obi-Martin, 15, has already played for Arsenal at Under-18, 19 and 21 level, but dropped down to the Under-16s as the former age group do not have a game this weekend.

He stole the show as he found the net 10 times in Arsenal’s dominant victory, and later posted a picture of himself with the match ball on Instagram.

The rising star has signed a scholarship deal with the Gunners for next season, and has already trained with the first-team.

The Danish youngster was born in 2007 in Glostrup on the outskirts of Copenhagen, and moved to the UK as a teenager.

He has played for both England and Denmark’s national teams at youth level – and is also eligible to represent Nigeria.

But it looks more likely to be Denmark currently, with him recently scoring seven goals in nine games for their Under-17s, including four in a 6-2 win against Norway.

Whether Obi-Martin chooses to stick with Denmark, or switch to England or Nigeria, his latest exploits will only fuel the fire on his promise for the future.

Gunners icon Ian Wright recently picked the attacker out as one to watch, stating: “Chido Obi-Martin, he’s 15, honestly, he’s like 6 foot 2, he looks really quick.”

Chido Obi-Martin scored 10 goals for Arsenal Under-16s against Liverpool U16s today in a 14-3 win. 💫

Obi-Martin has already trained with Mikel Arteta's first team and is eligible to represent Denmark, England and Nigeria. 🇩🇰 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇳🇬 pic.twitter.com/THIkFvT9u7

— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley) November 18, 2023

Tags: Arsenal, Chido Obi-Martin, Liverpool

Jorginho has been told to “bow down” and accept that he is no longer up to taking penalties after missing a fourth successive penalty for Italy.

The Arsenal and Italian midfielder was given spot-kick responsibility in Italy’s 5-2 victory over North Macedonia on Friday evening, but watched his effort saved from 12-yards.

Jorginho was once one of Europe’s best penalty takers having only missed four penalties prior to Jordan Pickford’s heroic save for England in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley.

He has since missed as many efforts since then and Friday’s tame effort was another poor attempt that sees him eclipse the record set by former Inter and Juventus striker Alessandro ‘Spillo’ Altobelli in 1986.

Now, Jorginho has been told by Italy’s 1982 World Cup winner Beppe Bergomi that he should concede his penalty responsibilities after his latest denial that was saved by Stole Dimitrievsk.

Jorginho’s unique penalty style of producing a hop mid run-up used to make goalkeepers commit to one side before the ball was struck, however, his unconvincing strikes have since left much to be desired.

Bergomi criticised Italy head coach Luciano Spalletti’s decision to stand by Jorginho and slammed the midfielder by insisting “enough is enough”.

“With all due respect, Jorginho has to bow down to the evidence here and admit penalties are no longer for him,” he told Sky Sport Italia.

“That style of taking spot-kicks just does not work anymore and today we got confirmation beyond doubt.

“We can appreciate his character and mental strength in going up there again, but I’d say now enough is enough. He has to go to the coach and say let someone else take the next one,” said Bergomi.

Fortunately Jorginho’s miss didn’t stop Italy from moving one step closer to qualifying for the Euros taking place in Germany next year with victory over North Macedonia.

A draw in their next game against Ukraine would be enough for Italy to qualify, but Spaletti was full of praise for Jorginho.

“Jorginho should be congratulated [for his performance]. He did not angle the ball very well but the goalkeeper made a good save,” Spalletti said.

“He remains a special penalty taker for Italy. I told him that he will take the next penalty as well and he said yes.”

Photo Credit: IFTVofficial/ X

Tags: Arsenal, Italy

Chelsea and Germany legend Michael Ballack has called on Kai Havertz to come out of his shell if he is to be a success at Arsenal.

He said to Sport Witness: “Kai Havertz has outstanding skills. But as already mentioned: he seems a bit too reserved for me.

“You need a certain robustness and mentality, especially abroad, to assert yourself in difficult situations. I hope he gets it done.

“In my opinion it is still too early for that (an exit). He should assert himself at Arsenal by all means possible.”

Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, Kai Havertz

Federico Valverde says he rejected Arsenal in 2016 as he “never wanted to go to England”.

The Uruguay midfielder, 25, soon joined Real Madrid instead and has since won the Champions League and two LaLiga crowns.

Valverde told the The Players’ Tribune: “If you Google me, you will see stories about how I almost went to Arsenal when I was 16. That’s maybe half-true.

‘It’s nothing against Arsenal, but I never wanted to go to England. At that time, the business side of football took over.

“Certain people were telling me, ‘Who wouldn’t want to go play for Arsenal? You want to stay here in Uruguay? That’s crazy!’.

“What they were really saying under their breath was, ‘We can all make a lot of money if you go’.”

Tags: Arsenal, Federico Valverde, Real Madrid

Reports in Italy claim Juventus have hit a stalemate in their contract renewal talks with Federico Chiesa, attracting serious attention from multiple Premier League clubs.

The 26-year-old Italian winger has left than two years left on his current deal – worth €5m net per season – in Turin and the club are keen to lock him down to a new long-term contract.

Juventus met with Chiesa’s agent Fali Ramadani at the end of October, where the representative gave his client’s demands and made it clear that, whilst he wasn’t interested in lowering his requests, he was open to moving forward with the club.

As highlighted by Calciomercato.com, talks between the two parties have continued over the last few weeks but Juventus are seemingly no closer to reaching an agreement with Chiesa, igniting interest from the Premier League.

Teams like Newcastle United, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal are all rumoured to be interested in the 26-year-old winger, who has scored four goals in 10 Serie A matches this term.

Juventus’ priority is to agree a new contract with Chiesa in the coming months, not wanting to have to sell off their star winger next summer.

Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, Federico Chiesa, Juventus

Chelsea and Manchester United made enquiries about David Raya before he eventually joined Arsenal, according to his agent.

Raya established himself as one of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers during Brentford’s first two seasons in the top flight, while he also muscled his way into a competitive Spain setup despite being a relative unknown in his home country.

Interest in Raya’s services was widespread during the summer transfer window after he publicly revealed his desire for a new challenge, eventually joining Arsenal on an initial £3m loan with a £27m option to buy.

Raya’s agent, Jaume Munell, has confirmed that Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich made offers, while Chelsea and United also asked about his situation. But ultimately, the Gunners’ long-standing interest made them frontrunners for his signature.

“Arsenal showed interest for the first time three years ago in 2021. They tried to buy him but Brentford didn’t want to sell him at any price. After they bought Ramsdale that was an easier option but David has always been the priority,” Munell told AFTV.

“This summer, he had just one year left on his contract with Brentford and Arsenal was the club that showed the most concrete interest and have always been our priority.

“Tottenham also was interested and made an official bid but it was refused because was lower than the €40m (£35m) that Brentford wanted to sell him, also Bayern Munich was interested and had an amazing offer but with no buy option included and for this reason, we’ve not accepted it.

“Bayern Munich didn’t understand our refusal because they thought that Raya would have been the backup keeper at Arsenal but as you can see it’s not like this. Also Manchester United and Chelsea made an enquiry but nothing concrete.”

Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, David Raya