Chelsea boss Graham Potter has distinguished Napoli hitman Victor Osimhen as one of the leading candidates to assume the elusive talismanic role at Stamford Bridge.

Indeed, the Blues have struggled this term and are currently languishing in tenth place in the Premier League, with the ten-point gulf separating the club between the west London outfit and fourth placed Manchester United an alarming sign considering the wealth of investment pumped into the Stamford Bridge squad since the arrival of new owner Todd Boehly last year.

According to The Athletic's David Ornstein, Chelsea have indeed highlighted Osimhen, alongside Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic, as players capable of leading the line across the coming era for the side, and a bid could be forthcoming before the conclusion of the ongoing winter transfer market.

Signing for Napoli for roughly £71m, the Nigerian sensation has swiftly emerged as one of the hottest commodities in the Serie A and now spearheads an imperious and relentless outfit that high eye atop the table, nine points clear of second-placed AC Milan.

Having signed Mykhaylo Mudryk for £88.5m already this winter, a deal might be viewed as implausible for the aspiring outfit, particularly with the forward's value now thought to be €140m (£122m), but the cogs could in fact fall into place given the unabating storm that is Boehly's might on the transfer front.

Huge Auba upgrade

This season, the £93k-per-week Osimhen has clinched 13 goals and four assists from 18 appearances for his soaring outfit in all competitions, blossoming into one of Europe's superlative strikers with his electric pace and devastating cutting-edge.

With this tally a continuation of the excellent 18 goals the phenom tallied last term - a number he is well on track to surpass this time out - there is a clear growth and nurturing of a natural host of skills that is setting him among the very top forward's the game has to offer.

As per FBref, he ranks among the top 3% of forwards for rate of goals, the top 4% for total shots and the top 9% for touches in the attacking penalty area across Europe's top five leagues, providing an apt illustration of the paramount importance he has at the head of the ship, evidenced by first place Napoli's league-high 44 league goals and his career average 2.9 shots per game, merging output with an innate prolific sense.

The "goal machine", as hailed by reporter Mimi Fawaz, would represent a marked and emphatic upswing from the current deployment of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as the club's forward option; signed from FC Barcelona in the summer - in a deal sending left-back Marcos Alonso going the other way - the 33-year-old Gabonese veteran has only found the net three times from 17 outings since his arrival, and as he approaches his twilight years, the most prudent option certainly seems to fall into Osimhen's favour.

As the graphic above indicates, it's evident that the Nigerian international is having a considerably better season as he becomes a larger force year by year. Aubameyang, on the other hand, is a fading force, one Chelsea could do without in their new era.

Bearing this in mind, Chelsea technical director Christopher Vivell would be wise to swoop in the coming weeks; if the funds are indeed available and it would be no detriment to the overall wealth of the football club, then one of the most fearsome forces in world football would be unleashed at the front of a Blues outfit that view only the sky as the limit.