Manchester United reportedly have significant work to do to sign SSC Napoli striker Victor Osimhen.
The Red Devils are aiming to secure a number nine signing to strengthen Ruben Amorim’s attack next season.
It looked like he might unite forces with his former striker at Sporting CP, Viktor Gyokeres, but it appears that he has a preference to join Arsenal at this stage.
United must now look at other targets and are said to have made recent contact with agents of Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike .
The club have also been long-linked to Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen, who recently turned down a huge offer from Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal.
TEAMtalk report that quite a queue of clubs have formed for the in-demand striker as he “continues to attract strong interest, with at least eight teams showing concrete interest in the Napoli striker in recent weeks.”
It is reported that “Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are the English trio keeping tabs on Osimhen, while Juventus, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid are all also interested.”
Galatasaray are also keen to re-sign the player after he enjoyed an incredibly fruitful loan spell in Turkey last season.
According to journalist Rudy Galetti, “one of two certainties about his decision-making process has put Manchester United far away from pole position.”
It is stated that Osimhen is in absolutely no rush to pick his next move and wants to take his time to evaluate every project on its own merit and there is “no clear favourite” to land the lethal forward.
Galetti claims that one of the key conditions for Osimhen is Champions League football which subsequently puts United and AC Milan at a distinct disadvantage to other rivals for his signature.
Their lack of European football has them allegedly sitting “far behind in the hierarchy unless the player changes his mind in the coming weeks.”
What’s more, Osimhen is prepared to start pre-season training with Napoli in the middle of July as he waits for his next career step. In addition, the Italians will reportedly only sell at his €75 million release clause.
Whilst it is logical that a player of Osimhen’s calibre would want to play Champions League football, it must be stated that the author of this report, Galetti, is not always the most reliable. Therefore, United may not be as far back in the race as suggested.
Featured image Ahmad Mora via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
