By Daily Sports Nigeria on July 13, 2024

Chelsea have withdrawn from the race to sign 20-year-old Atletico Madrid striker Samu Omorodion after seeing two bids turned down by the Spanish giants, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The Spain Under-21 international of Nigerian descent has returned to the Wanda Metropolitano on the back of a successful loan spell with Alaves in 2023/24, where he scored eight goals and provided an assist in 34 La Liga contests.

The form of Omorodion attracted the attention of two-time UCL winners Chelsea, who have had no qualms about shelling out extortionate transfer sums for hot prospects since Todd Boehly took over.

Last month, it was reported that the Blues had lodged an opening offer of around €30m (£25.3m), which could have hit €40m (£33.7m) with add-ons, but they were swiftly rejected by Atletico.

The West London giants did not throw in the towel after their first rejection and apparently returned with an improved offer of £42m, but again, their advances were rejected again.

Omorodion’s contract in the Spanish capital does not expire for another four seasons, and Atletico were supposedly holding out for a fee of around £70m to sell the striker, who is yet to make his first-team debut for Diego Simeone’s side.

As a result, Spanish outlet Marca claims that Chelsea have now pulled out of the race to sign the 2004-born talent, having ‘had enough’ of Atletico constantly turning their reasonable offers down.

The board at Stamford Bridge had supposedly earmarked Omorodion as a potential leading marksman for years to come, but Atletico believe that he can blossom in Spain in the coming seasons.

Simeone supposedly views the 20-year-old as a player who could succeed Memphis Depay, and as there is also uncertainty over the future of Alvaro Morata, Atletico are desperate to keep hold of Omorodion.

Furthermore, the attacker himself is understood to be keen to stay put and make a name for himself in the red and white shirt, forcing Chelsea to look elsewhere in their search for new attacking talents.

Source Punch Ng

Posted July 13, 2024

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