Arsenal and Chelsea look set to miss out on centre-forward targets Victor Osimhen and Ivan Toney, potentially taking them back to the drawing board in their respective striker pursuits.
The two London clubs are expected to be in the market for a new centre-forward in January, with Napoli's Osimhen and Brentford's Toney the names most strongly linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium or Stamford Bridge.
But both players now look set to stay with their current clubs beyond the upcoming transfer window.
Osimhen appears poised to pen a new deal at Napoli, with club president Aurelio De Laurentiis saying: "With Osimhen, we are about to sign the contract that was pending this summer."
Transfermarkt currently values the 24-year-old Nigerian international – who has scored 37 goals in 51 games since the start of last season – at €120m (£103m), but the Serie A giants are bound to demand more for their star man, especially if he does extend his stay in Naples, which may effectively price would-be buyers out of a transfer.
As for Toney, 27, the England international will be clear to play again from 17 January – having been banned from football since May after admitting to 232 breaches of FA betting regulations.
And Brentford boss Thomas Frank doesn't seem to think his 20-goal striker from last term – who has a £100m price tag – is going anywhere. He told The Standard: "I don't want to lose him. I hope, and think, he'll be a Brentford player on 1 February [the January transfer window closes at 11pm that day]".
While Arsenal are sitting pretty atop the Premier League table and Chelsea have shown signs of improvement under Mauricio Pochettino in recent weeks, neither club have had a player find the net 20 times in a league campaign since 2019/20.
Then, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang notched 22 goals for Arsenal for the second successive season – having shared the Golden Boot with Liverpool duo Mo Salah and Sadio Mane in 2018/19.
No Chelsea player has reached the 20-goal mark since Diego Costa back in 2016/17.
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