In an attempt to sign Nigerian international Victor Osimhen during the upcoming transfer window, Manchester United, the dominant team in the English Premier League, is reportedly preparing an offer of €110 million, according to UK outlet The Independent. This information was reported by The PUNCH.
Before the 2024–2025 season, the Premier League’s biggest teams plan to completely restructure their roster, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS Group assuming control at Old Trafford.
In the transfer market, United is prepared to issue a statement following reports that surfaced on Monday indicating that the Devils are leading Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, and Chelsea in the competition for the Napoli striker.
According to The Independent, United is prepared to make a sizable offer during the upcoming summer transfer window.
The Nigerian forward helped Napoli win Serie A last season and has 13 goals this season. Many elite teams, including Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, are interested in Osimhen. According to reports, he recently signed a new deal with Naples that has a €110 million release clause.
In spite of missing a significant portion of the 2023–24 season because of injuries and his participation with Nigeria in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, the striker still has 14 goals in 16 league games for the Italian top division (11 goals and three assists).
At Napoli, the 25-year-old has been on a roll. He scored a league-high 26 goals in 32 Serie A games last season, and 31 goals in all competitions, helping the team win its first league title in 33 years.
His hiring will be extremely beneficial for United, the 20-time Premier League champions, who haven’t had a successful striker since 2015, when Dutchman Robin van Persie left the team.
Osimhen is one of the most sought-after attackers in Europe and has dominated headlines with his accomplishments, so it is not surprising that United is prepared to spend big money on the former Lille forward ahead of the upcoming campaign.
The Nigerian became the first African to win the top scoring title in Italy’s top division at the end of the 2022–2023 season.
In addition, he received the 2022–2023 Italian Footballers’ Association Serie A Player of the Year award.
Osimhen of Napoli only managed to score once during the competition, but his contribution to the team was crucial to their advancement to the final, where they lost 2-1 to the hosts, following his assistance in helping Nigeria qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast and finishing the qualification series as top scorer with 10 goals.
With an eighth-place finish, Osimhen became the first-ever Nigerian football player to be listed in the Top 10 of the Ballon d’Or, capping an incredible career for the Lagos-born striker.
At the CAF awards ceremony in Marrakech last December, he defeated Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah to win African Footballer of the Year, making history as the first Nigerian to do so since Nwankwo Kanu in 1999.