Osimhen 'leads Chelsea's 3-man shortlist' ahead of the January transfer window

Chelsea have reportedly made Victor Osimhen a priority target with the Napoli striker said to be open to joining them.

Osimhen fired Napoli to the Serie A title and scored 31 goals in all competitions last season and has continued his good form this campaign.

Mauricio Pochettino's side have prepared a three-man shortlist of options to bolster their forward line after a lukewarm start to the season.

It is Osimhen who the Blues want most according to the Evening Standard.

Napoli chairman Aurelio Di Laurentiis drives a hard bargain and whacked a valuation north of £150million on his prized asset in the summer.

However, with Christopher Nkunku injured, Nicolas Jackson only just finding his feet, and Armando Broja still learning his craft, Chelsea could spend big to blast their way into the top four race.

They also have eyes on banned Brentford forward Ivan Toney - who could cost about £100m - and Club Brugge's 18-year-old Antonio Nusa.

While Toney would bring proven top-flight net-busting experience, Nusa is more of an unknown quantity with just seven career goals but is one of Europe's most widely admired wonderkids and has already played for Norway four time, scoring once.

All three would bring different qualities and prospects but Osimhen is the standout name after being one of Europe's best players last season.

Napoli will hope to cling onto him until at least the summer and the Evening Standard claims that Chelsea will only finalise their January transfer plans in mid-December.

However, Osimhen is seemingly unsettled and has a souring relationship with the club and the fans.

In September, Osimhen was the subject of two controversial videos posted to the club's TikTok account.

The first showed the 24-year-old appealing for a penalty, with sped-up audio captioned 'Gimme penalty please' before showing him putting the spot-kick wide.

A second video, which has been circulated online and since deleted, compared Osimhen to a 'coconut' - widely viewed as a racial slur.

Napoli responded by issuing a statement pleading their innocence but the relationship between player and club appears to have been heavily affected by the incident.

He has also been out with a hamstring injury since mid-October, limiting him to ten appearances so far.

However, in that time, he has still managed six goals.

Napoli rolled the dice and sacked Rudi Garcia in recent days, replacing him with Walter Mazzarri, and it will be intriguing to see how the new coach affects his form and relationship with the club.

Chelsea have found their feet in November and have scored eight goals in their last two games, but are still only the joint-eighth top scorers in the Premier Legaue alongside West Ham.