Osimhen to Man Utd? PL Big Eight ranked on their chances of signing banished Napoli star
Wantaway Napoli star Victor Osimhen was at the heart of most of the transfer deadline day drama as Chelsea and Al-Ahli tussled for his services.
Osimhen seemed certain to leave Napoli this summer as the Serie A giants were being pretty accommodating to potential suitors as they attempted to usher the Nigeria international out of the door.
Napoli gave interested clubs a half-price discount on his reported £110m release clause in the final days of the window, but they still struggled to get rid as Osimhen felt Chelsea didn’t meet his lavish needs.
After deadline day talks with Chelsea – a team laughably still lacking a world-class striker – came to no avail on deadline day, Osimhen appeared set to train with Napoli’s academy for a few months until Turkish giants Galatasaray surprisingly swooped to sign him on loan.
This transfer is incredibly underwhelming when you consider what Osimhen could have won. But this left-field deal very much appears to be a short-term fix as a January ‘break clause’ and re-negotiated £63m release clause makes a huge winter transfer to an elite club pretty likely.
So if he heads to the Premier League, which team is he most likely to sign for? Here’s a ranking of the Big Eight based on their chances of signing the prolific goalscorer in January…
8) Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs were among a seemingly endless number of teams linked with Osimhen in the summer until they eventually settled on Dominic Solanke as their chief striker target.
Tottenham’s creamy middle against Newcastle United proved there are plenty of improvements Ange Postecoglou needs to make this season. But Solanke’s post-international break return from injury will be a boost and after recently investing £65m on Harry Kane’s long-term replacement, they certainly won’t be entering the market for Osimhen in January.
7) Liverpool
Same again, no chance.
The pesky Italian media claimed Liverpool ‘tried’ to sign Osimhen in the summer and this is surely fabricated as the cut-price arrival of Federico Chiesa adds to what is already a star-studded list of attacking options at Arne Slot’s disposal.
Technical director Richard Hughes shouldn’t totally sniff at the opportunity to sign a striker of Osimhen’s calibre, but Liverpool will have far more pressing issues to deal with in January and an ‘explosive’ raid on Everton would ease their problems in one position.
READ: Chelsea dominate top 10 most pointless summer signings but dodgy Newcastle purchase top
6) Manchester City
Pep Guardiola reckons Man City made a “mistake” in the summer by not replacing Julian Alvarez, but the remarkable early-season form of Erling Haaland means the Premier League table-toppers are coping just fine without the World Cup winner.
Haaland came into this season refreshed and a scarier prospect for opposition defenders than ever before after having a free summer. His current goal tally of seven in three Premier League matches sets him to reach the 50-goal mark if he remains injury-free, which really is silly.
While Guardiola’s potential exit next year has been tipped to ‘trigger a domino effect’ which could see Haaland move to Spain, such a report feels premature and Man City won’t be signing another world-class striker to compete with the robot-like 24-year-old.
5) Aston Villa
The first of five more likely destinations for Osimhen are Unai Emery’s Aston Villa. This was always going to be a momentous season for the Villans as they are back in the Champions League and they could be forgiven for making that competition their priority.
But their immense performances last season while juggling the Premier League and Europa Conference League suggests they are capable of bucking a trend and could perform well both in Europe and domestically this season.
Villa’s chances of doing that have been boosted by a positive transfer window, while their audacious but ultimately failed pursuit of Joao Felix indicated where Emery’s ambitions lie.
A move for Osimhen would be even bolder and they would make an almighty statement if they landed him. One negative from their positive start to the season has been Ollie Watkins’ finishing and Emery would not hesitate to sign an upgrade if the opportunity arose.
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4) Newcastle United
PIF-backed Newcastle have been shafted by Profit and Sustainability rules in recent transfers, but a pretty important caveat to consider when discussing their frustrating summer window is avoiding the sales of key trio Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes.
Had Newcastle’s takeover been finalised a couple of years sooner, more players of this calibre would already be through the door as the free-spending Premier League side would be marching towards dominating Europe.
But Newcastle’s PSR issues are simply serving to delay the inevitable and while January is perhaps too soon for a signing like Osimhen, this is the level of player they will be looking at if the Real Madrids or Barcelonas of this world come calling for Isak.
3) Arsenal
Arsenal do not need a new striker as much as a couple of their Premier League rivals. Yet as good a signing as Kai Havertz has proved to be, the pursuit of a forward should still be one of the next priorities on Edu’s agenda heading into the winter and next summer’s window.
The Gunners ‘immediately decided against’ signing Osimhen in the summer. At the time of that particular development, this was a sensible call as it was before Napoli’s asking price dramatically dropped and this transfer would have wiped out their entire summer budget.
But heading into January, this is no longer the case. Having already once failed to pull the trigger in a January window under Mikel Arteta when in a strong position in the Premier League title race, they could rue not signing Osimhen for a reasonable fee in the winter when they had the chance.
READ: Predicting ten players Premier League clubs will regret selling this summer
2) Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Co. got plenty right in the summer, but their last two performances (especially their shambolic display against Liverpool) prove they are still far from being a Premier League title contender.
Erik ten Hag could once again be on the Old Trafford plank and Ratcliffe’s reported preferred replacement is already said to be throwing out transfer demands.
In the forward department, Rasmus Hojlund impressed in difficult circumstances during his debut season, but the jury is still out on the 21-year-old as his worrying injury record is not helping his cause. As for Joshua Zirkzee, he got off to a dream start against Fulham but his wasteful performance against Liverpool was worrying and it’s currently hard to see either player turning out to be the world-class striker desired by Man Utd.
Ratcliffe has emphasised his desire to have the best in class across all departments and signing Osimhen would be a fast track to ensure Man Utd have one of the leading strikers in world football.
1) Chelsea
Amid a sea of brainless transfer decisions, Chelsea had the chance to pull off a rare sensible signing in the latter days of the window with Osimhen. But after fluffing their lines, Todd Boehly and Co. decided to make another pointless signing as Jadon Sancho fled Old Trafford for Stamford Bridge. You really do despair.
It’s been hard to make sense of Chelsea’s recent business, but they are right to make Osimhen their main striker target as his summer arrival would have been an easy win for Boehly and the rest of their under-fire board.
With some of Chelsea’s bomb squad still in the building, head coach Enzo Maresca has been handed a muddled jigsaw to work through but Osimhen is arguably the final piece required to make their starting XI one of the Premier League’s best.
It is a signing that – if anything – makes too much sense and luckily for Chelsea, they will be given another crack in January after failing to get it over the line in the summer and you have to feel that the Blues are the most likely of the Big Eight sides to cave and finally give into Osimhen’s demands.
