Man United now in pole for top target as Chelsea drop out with titanic £133m bid revealed
According to rumours, Manchester United has passed Chelsea in the running to sign Victor Osimhen, a striker for Napoli.
With Erik ten Hag, the Red Devils are still searching for a long-term replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer transfer market.
In response to a heated interview with Piers Morgan conducted in advance of the World Cup in Qatar, Ronaldo resigned by mutual consent at the end of November.
Man United had to wait until January to find a replacement, with Burnley of the Championship sending Wout Weghorst on loan.
Although he has scored twice in other competitions, the Netherlands international has yet to score a Premier League goal and is unlikely to be a long-term fixture in Ten Hag’s plans.
Rasmus Hojlund of Atalanta, Goncalo Ramos of Benfica, and Harry Kane of Tottenham have all been linked with summer transfers to Manchester United.
Before the summer transfer market opens, it appears that Manchester United’s top aim is Osimhen of Napoli since they are prepared to pay a lot of money on the right player.
There have been worries about the club’s finances if the Glazers continue to run things while acquisition negotiations are ongoing, but a recent revelation revealed that they have access to a “company credit card” that will let Ten Hag spend extravagantly.
Osimhen, who has scored 21 goals in 25 Serie A games this summer, is reportedly ‘now in pole position’ to sign for Manchester United, with the Blues’ ‘financial troubles’ giving the Red Devils a ‘great boost’.
Chelsea is most interested in Osimhen, but the club is “struggling to stay within Financial Fair Play limits and may drop out of the race.”
Rival Manchester United is “now considered the Premier League frontrunner to sign Osimhen,” as a deal for the Nigerian international for Chelsea appears to be “financially impossible.”
However, Ligue 1 powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain will be a rival, ‘setting up a huge £133m bid’ that Man Utd ‘would likely have to match or perhaps better’ to secure Osimhen’s services.
Osimhen “dreams” of playing in the Premier League, according to CBS Sports journalist Ben Jacobs, and has “one eye on” a transfer to Manchester United.
“Manchester United are still very much looking for that traditional number nine, and everyone is getting excited about whether it’s going to be Kane or Osimhen, but both are incredibly difficult to pull off,” Jacobs said to TEAMtalk.
“Napoli will not want to sell Osimhen, but a deal is possible because he has been there long enough.”
“I believe that people forget that Osimhen’s transfer fee from Lille to Napoli was a total of €80 million, with €70 million paid up front.” However, the fact that it included both cash and players complicates the situation. Napoli is virtually tripling the deal’s overall value by taking the base fee and valuing the cash and players at €70 million.
It’s between 140 and 150 million euros since they think his value has increased significantly since joining the club. That makes him different from Kvara, who they pay pennies for.
“When you invest a significant sum of money to sign a player, as Napoli did, you expect a financial return if you let the player go.” Osimhen wants to play in the Premier League, however. And because Osimhen has always had one eye on Manchester United, I think that Manchester United is currently more likely than Chelsea.
Before relocating to Napoli, he nearly joined them but decided against it since he wasn’t confident he would get enough playing time.