Chelsea remain interested in signing Michael Olise in the summer transfer window. However, soccerhuz.com understands the Crystal Palace winger would favour a move to Manchester United, with the Red Devils also interested.
Despite being at Chelsea from the age of seven to 14, Olise has always been an avid Man United supporter. The 22-year-old is aware of interest from the Blues and United and is widely expected to leave Palace at the end of the season.
Chelsea activated Olise’s £35million release clause last summer and the winger looked set to move to Stamford Bridge. However, Olise then penned a new four-year contract at Selhurst Park.
Olise now has a new release clause in his latest contract with the Eagles that becomes active this summer. The exact figure of the clause remains unknown at this stage, though, but is expected to be considerably more than £35million.
The Frenchman, who was born in Hammersmith, has been in fine form for Palace this season, despite his playing time being disrupted by injuries. Olise has featured nine times in the Premier League under Roy Hodgson, scoring five goals and assisting once in the process.
Man United are understood to be keeping a very close eye on Olise and his situation ahead of a summer move. Erik ten Hag’s side have been disappointing in front of goal thus far this season, with only 24 goals scored in their opening 21 Premier League matches.
Chelsea are still expected to pursue Olise in the summer transfer window and will look to lure him to Stamford Bridge. There are other targets, too, for the Blues to be pursuing.
They are expected to move for Victor Osimhen at the end of the season with the Napoli striker looking a certainty to leave the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in the summer. Speaking on Friday, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis all but confirmed the Nigerian’s departure.
He said: “This was already known since this summer, our negotiations [over the new contract] were friendly, otherwise it would not have been so long. We knew he would go to Real Madrid, PSG or a top English club.”
Chelsea are looking to add a world-class No.9 to their squad but have been unable to do so this month. With just a few days remaining of the mid-season window, the club are now expected to wait until the summer before addressing their issues in front of goal in the transfer market.
