How Jose Mourinho sacking can impact Chelsea and Arsenal race for Victor Osimhen

Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has found himself the talk of the footballing world once again today after the Special One was sacked from his post at Serie A club AS Roma.

The 60-year-old had been at the Italian side for almost three years, having joined in May 2021, just one month after being dismissed by Tottenham Hotspur. Already in the hours after his dismissal, Mourinho has been inevitably linked with a return to Stamford Bridge given his fondness for Chelsea.

With Mauricio Pochettino recording three league wins on the bounce and moving up the league, that seems an unlikely upheaval in the near future. However, there is still a knock-on effect that Mourinho's sacking could have on Chelsea supporters.

Roma had been heavily linked with a January move for Blues defender Trevoh Chalobah. The Europa League finalists have dealt with injuries to Chris Smalling and Marash Kumbulla this season and are in the market for another defender this January.

Chalobah has fallen out of favour since Pochettino's arrival at Stamford Bridge and Italian transfer guru Rudy Glaetti had claimed that the 24-year-old had been offered to Mourinho's Roma. Chelsea had initially wanted £50 million for their youth product but had been reportedly willing to accept a much lower £17 million in January with Mourinho's closeness to the club helping discussions.

Chelsea continue to be linked with big-money moves for strikers Victor Osimhen and Ivan Toney this month but those £100 million deals would have to be offset by player sales to navigate Financial Fair Play stipulations. A number of outlets had noted that a deal with Mourinho for Chalobah could have added between £17 million and £50 million to the striker kitty.

Earlier this month, Chelsea reporter Simon Phillips outlined that Victor Osimhen remains the 'dream target' for the ambitious Todd Boehly on his Substack. While the deal is tricky, the Chelsea owner is determined that it can be done.

He said: “The Chelsea hierarchy want to sign Victor Osimhen, he has been the dream target since last summer and that remains the case now. He’s the main target as far as the likes of Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly are concerned – they want to bring him in and I believe they will at least enquire to see if it is possible if they haven’t already."

If Chelsea are going to pull off the Osimhen coup, it won't come cheap with the Nigerian believed to have a £112 million release clause in his Napoli deal. To make that happen, Todd Boehly and his colleagues will have to move players on from Stamford Bridge to free up funds - Conor Gallagher has been linked with departures along with Chalobah.

Brentford striker Ivan Toney is another option to Osimhem, although the England international now looks set to stay at the Gtech this month to help the side away from a relegation battle. Arsenal are also linked with moves for Osimhen and Toney.